


Dykstra's Law

by HooahSergeant



Series: The Law Series [7]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternative Universe - FBI, Cop Drama, F/F, FBI Agent Quinn Fabray, Future Fic, Original Character(s), non-linear time line
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23535964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HooahSergeant/pseuds/HooahSergeant
Summary: It seems that Rachel and Quinn will never get a dull moment. After taking a big leap forward in their relationship, it's one thing after another.
Relationships: Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray
Series: The Law Series [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693714
Kudos: 17





	1. Chapter 1

With a soft, fluttering feeling in her stomach, Quinn eased her apartment door open and slid inside with the barest rustle of clothing. The giddy, warm, sensation, spread from her stomach outwards, sweeping over her entire body – she had to resist the urge to skip around the room.

Already removing her pistol and badge, she crept down the short hallway towards the bedroom with a stealthy grace. The butterflies fled from her stomach only to take refuge in her chest when she cracked the door open a bit and peeked inside to see a Rachel-sized lump lost in a sea of blankets. 

Rachel Berry, in her bed. 

Unbelievable. 

The blonde felt her smile soften as that dopey, lovesick, rush came over her. She ran a pale hand through her hair, sometimes still struck dumb that this could actually be her life.

Slinking further into the room she deposited her firearm, badge, credentials and keys on the small table on ‘her’ side of the bed. She kept an eye on Rachel while she stripped, not wanting to wake her. Pulling the blankets up she discovered her girlfriend asleep on her stomach, clad in the blonde's gray Georgetown t-shirt, fists curled up by her head. Quinn shook her head and smirked, making a note to tease Rachel about stealing her clothes all the time and crawled in behind the soundly sleeping brunette.

A quiet groan fell from her lips as the soft bed and cool sheets enveloped her in a welcoming embrace. She tugged the diminutive diva into her arms and could’ve cried at how heavenly it all felt. She was so, so, tired and her bed really was her most favorite place – especially when Rachel was in it. Quinn curled herself even closer to Rachel’s limp body, wrapping her up snugly and pressing her face into ink-black hair.

Rachel finally stirred against her, one small hand trailing ticklishly over the arm Quinn had draped across her. “Is this real?” 

Quinn’s stomach clenched hard and something in her chest seemed to fracture at the barely audible question. She’d often asked herself the same thing, but hearing it from Rachel was completely different. 

“Of course it is,” she said, and flexed her arms around the smaller woman’s waist, hoping she felt how real it was. The slight frame in her arms shifted, silky skin slithering against her in a way that made the softest of fabrics an absolute joke and then there she was. Big brown eyes blinked at her drowsily as Rachel nuzzled against her pillow, a lopsided smile curling her pink lips. Rachel exhaled heavily, as though she’d expected to turn and find Quinn absent – really nothing more than a dream. 

The urge to kiss those full lips was strong, they practically begged for it, but she closed her eyes, resisting temptation.

“Hi,” she said instead.

“Hello,” the ever formal Rachel responded and Quinn rolled her eyes in charmed exasperation.

“Hi,” she said again, stressing the word that much more, delighted when it earned her a sleepy chuckle. She’d teach Rachel to talk like a normal human if it was the last thing she ever did.

”Hi,” Rachel huffed, then turned her mouth back into her pillow to hide her laughter.

Quinn found the idea of continuing this conversation with a ‘hola’ or ‘guten tag’ compelling, just to see how many different ways Rachel would think of to overdo a simple greeting, but she saw the brunette’s eyes drooping. Those coffee colored, soul expressing, orbs disappeared behind heavy lids, then reappeared before falling to half-mast in a random lazy pattern as she fought to stay awake. Quinn couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Wha-?” Rachel mumbled and wormed in closer, trying to steal more body heat.

“You’re adorable,” Quinn said against the warm skin of the diva’s forehead. Gentle lips whispered a kiss over her collarbone and she shivered at the light sensation as Rachel settled more comfortably against her. “It’s not fair.”

“What’s that they say? ‘Life’s not fair’?” Tiny hands curled into fists against her stomach, instantly shooting a pang of longing through Quinn.

The ghost of her baby, lingering still.

“They do say that,” she agreed a moment later when she trusted her voice again, swallowing against the lump in her throat. 

“What’s wrong?”

Quinn bit back a sigh, silently cursing Rachel’s damned perceptiveness. “Nothing. Nothing at all, just to happy to be here with you.”

A pause went through the brunette, a small change in her breathing signaling that she’d caught onto her fib. She waited to be called on it, absentmindedly smoothing a palm over Rachel’s hair – soothing both of them with the steady strokes.

“No secrets?” came the hesitant request.

“I sometimes still feel Beth.” There. She said it. Admitted it out loud. Immediately tears pricked at the back of her eyes and the once benign mass stuck in her throat turned into a hot coal.

Rachel went still again, no doubt watching an internal montage of High School, much as Quinn was.

Pure agony, that’s all the agent could think or feel when she remembered herself. Sixteen, pregnant, nowhere to go and no-one at her side. Her life had been over. Never once had she blamed the life growing in her. From that first ultrasound, to the first kick and onward, it had been her and her baby against the world. Then the first time she’d seen her, Beth, it was suddenly so real and she fell instantly into heartbreaking love. 

But she couldn’t keep her, couldn’t give her the life she deserved and it hurt so damn much. She’d ripped a piece of her heart free that day and willingly given it away and buried the rest as far down as she could to get away from it. Never spoke of her daughter, tried not to remember her sweet baby girl but sometimes, in moments she didn’t choose, the memories, the whispers of a life that had once been entangled with hers smacked against her like a runaway train.

Quinn realized she was crying and it was too late to keep Rachel from noticing because the burning saline drops had already fallen into her dark hair.

“Did I – “

“No.” Quinn shook her head and struggled to rein in her emotions. “It just happens sometimes. My body remembers, even though there’s no baby now.”

“Quinn,” Rachel whimpered and started pressing achingly tender kisses all over the blondes collarbone and neck.

“It’s alright,” she assured the trembling brunette. “You should go back to sleep, I know you’re tired.” When she glanced over at the clock she immediately wished she hadn’t bothered to look. 

“But we’re not working tomorrow,” Rachel reminded her, her protest trailing off at the end. 

Damn it, her eyes had been drying up, but now a fresh wave welled. Sometimes she just didn’t feel worthy of Rachel. A small part of her would probably always believe that there was no way someone like her deserved any part of wonderful, adorable, special, crazy Rachel. Her heart ached in harmony with the thought and she wondered if she’d ever fully forgive herself for the scars she imagined riddled Rachel’s.

Thanks to her.

“That’s not an excuse for ignoring proper sleep, Quinn, your body needs rest,’” she quoted, proud of her impression. Rachel growled and it was about as vicious as a tea-cup Chihuahua puppy.

“You’re making fun of me!”

Quinn squirmed down until she was nose to nose with her pouting girlfriend and this time caved in to her desire and kissed the lower lip that was jutting out at her. “I would never!”

Rachel looked like she might continue to argue, the gaze of her dark eyes flickering all over the blonde's face, but finally she merely huffed a sigh, rolled her eyes and kissed her again. They separated and came together again and again, trading warm and lengthening connections. Quinn’s hands itched with the need to feel skin, so she slipped her palms over the diva’s ribs then under the hem of her shirt and back up, groaning at the feel of soft, hot, flesh. Rachel hummed but pulled away with a short, farewell, kiss – much to Quinn’s chagrin. Her little body burrowed it’s way impossibly closer, like she was trying to completely melt into Quinn and make them one person.

“I can feel you thinking,” the pint sized diva sniffed after several long minutes. Her fists flexed and sent another tremor racing through the now exhausted blonde.

“Sorry,” the agent apologized because she should, but not for thinking so loudly. Once her heart had stopped jack-hammering in her chest and her breathing had settled back to normal her mind had indeed taken off again. Threatening to drown her in an sea of depression with thoughts of Beth and the memories of her cruelty to the woman now nestled against her.

“Talk, Quinn.”

“Do you ever think about Shelby?” It was out before she could think about it, before she could gentle the blow she’d dealt. It just confirmed her quiet fear – that she always hurt Rachel, inadvertently or not, she was always hurting Rachel.

“Yes.” Her voice wasn’t small or timid in its answer. It was matter of fact. Which to most would indicate indifference with the topic. But Quinn knew better, she loved Rachel, every bit of her and because of that she knew more than anyone else. In fact, though she would have denied it and promised to take it to her grave if confronted about it, 16 year old Quinn Fabray had known Rachel that well, all those years ago. “You’re not her, you know.” 

“I know.” That wasn’t what she’d meant, so the blonde started moving her hands again, tracing the lines and muscle of Rachel’s toned back and shoulders. She waited patiently for her to figure it out. It wouldn’t take long.

“Oh.” Rachel inhaled sharply and pulled back, not completely out of Quinn’s hold, just enough to prop herself up on an elbow and support her head on her palm.

Quinn bit her lip as she took in Rachel’s expression.

“Quinn, I’m sure she missed you, misses you. You’re her mother and nobody else will ever be that. You gave her life, sunshine, and the fact is you didn’t have to.” Her eyes scanned over her face as she spoke, and her sable eyebrows drew together. “That’s not what you were thinking about though. Well, it is, but there’s something else. What aren’t you saying? You don’t have to keep it all bottled up with me.”

“I love you,” Quinn confessed. “I love you and I can’t let you go even though I don’t think I really should get to have you.”

Rachel’s hand thumped down onto the mattress, her mouth worked like she was talking but no sounds came out. “You love me?” She finally squeaked out.

She nodded, unable to speak, and looked intently down at the mattress, blonde hair flowing over her face, hiding her. 

Abruptly she could see again, her honey colored curtain was gone. Rachel was cradling her cheeks, and staring deep, brown eyes glistening with a sheen of unshed tears. “Don’t hide from me. Quinn, you don’t have to hide from me. Listen to me, okay, I need you to listen to one of my Rachel Berry speeches and remember everything I’m about to say because I think it would kill me if you don’t believe me the first time.

“I love you too, Quinn Fabray – in a way that defies explanation or description. I can’t tell you how much I love you, or figure out any way to measure it. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. It’s shocking and quite honestly a little scary because, my god, you’re Quinn Fabray.

“I’ve thought about this a lot, certainly after I realized that I was, in fact, head over heels in love with someone who used to make me cry on a regular basis. We’re like those, um, those arch enemies that hate each other simply because of the passion they feel for one another and shouldn’t or don’t want to, whatever. I don’t really have this ramble very well planned out, but fuck it, I’m just going to keep talking until I get it all out. 

“Quinn, the fact of the matter is, as awful as you think you were all those years ago, I was just as bad. Selfish, spoiled, diva Princess who stormed out of classrooms and demanded my boyfriend raise our future babies in the Jewish faith. I was inconsiderate, entitled. Oh god, Quinn I could go on and on. If anything, I don’t think that I could ever deserve you. Because you’ve changed so much, you’ve grown and pulled yourself together, mended things and become this amazing woman. I’m still that teenager, I’m a diva and that’s just fact. 

“Yes, I’ve grown too and yes I’m more mature and have better control of all my Berryisms, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling completely unworthy of you. I don’t care that you insulted me and drew pictures of me anymore. You were not the worst part of my High School experience – beyond that, it’s not like you killed my parents or anything. I’m a strong person, made stronger because of the things I endured and learned from, just like you. In conclusion, Quinn, we deserve each other. I love you too, I’ve loved you since that first night at the bar. So I’m begging you, please don’t let go. Don’t ever let me go.”

Panting, the brunette finally stopped, and both of them were crying. Quinn looked so shocked. Rachel had to smile sheepishly, it certainly wasn’t her longest ramble to date, but it was her most fiery one for sure. 

Quinn lunged forward, scaring Rachel into her second squeak of the night. The blonde gripped her fiercely, holding fistfuls of her stolen college t-shirt and raven locks while she tucked her nose and lips against her girlfriends ear. “I won’t. I promise, I won’t let go. I’ll never go where you can’t follow or where I can’t chase you.”

“You’re squishing me,” Rachel cried indignantly, her voice wavering with the tears currently soaking into Quinn’s shoulder and pillow.

“Sorry,” the blonde moved back and cupped the diva’s face, thumbs rubbing away the salty trails. “I love you.”

The brunette beamed soggily and laughed, “I know! I love you too.”

“Can I say it all night?” Quinn asked hopefully.

“Technically, I think the night is over, but you can say it all the time, whenever you want. I’ll never get tired of hearing it.”

The hurricane of emotions they’d just survived left her with the feeling of having been scrubbed clean and the smile that threatened to crack her cheeks couldn’t be restrained. Quinn felt giddy and lighter than a feather, she suddenly understood that crazy cliché about shouting love from rooftops. Her whole body was awash with energy, boundless, bright, bubbly, energy. It needed to get out, somehow. 

She surged forward and crashed her mouth back down onto Rachel’s, wound the other woman tightly in her arms and poured everything she was feeling into a physical expression because there was no way words were going to do it. And her diva met her, kiss for kiss, touch for touch, moaning and whimpering and shuddering right along with her. 

Quinn growled at the shirt that was getting in her way, trapping her hands and keeping her mouth away from so much of Rachel. She tugged and whined in the back of her throat, couldn’t give voice to her frustration because her mouth was otherwise occupied. Thankfully, Rachel was of a similar mind and wrenched herself away to yank the material free, baring her skin to the chill of the room. Swiftly, she dove back down under the blankets and threw herself back into the blonde. Tan skin clashed against pale as they wrestled for control. With a snarl and a nip at Rachel’s slender shoulder Quinn successfully rolled them, pinning her girlfriend under her with ease. She dug her teeth into her lip as she looked down at the brunette sprawled out under her, saw dark eyes and swollen lips and irritated skin where Quinn had marked her.

“I love you,” she declared again, proudly, and swooped back in, attacking that elegant neck with renewed fervor. 

It wasn’t night anymore, Rachel had said, so as Quinn pulled the diva closer yet and heard her name husked out when her mouth descended on supple flesh, she knew that it was already shaping up to be the best day of her life.


	2. Chapter 2

Quinn woke slowly, blinking drowsily against the sunlight that spilled in through the open blinds, warming her bed. She yawned softly and stretched, feeling an ache in her muscles that though slightly uncomfortable, nevertheless brought a smile to her face. Grinning, she closed her eyes again and snuggled down deeper under her white down comforter and stretched a hand out beneath the sheets, searching for Rachel. Her smile turned upside down when her questing fingers found nothing but a cold spot - definitely not the sleep warm skin she’d wanted. She opened her eyes again and rolled over, confirming that her Broadway diva was not present or accounted for. 

Huffing a sigh, she sat up, holding her blankets to her chest with one hand and running the other through her unruly bed head.

She finally had a day off, a solid day off in god knows how long, and she’d had plans for Rachel. 

Good plans.

Sexy plans.

Damn it. 

Forlornly, she glanced again at the empty side of the bed, missing the usual mass of ebony hair splayed out over the pillow, the smell of mint from organic shampoo and conditioner, the sound of light snoring - and when the blankets were pulled back, god she missed the sight of Rachel Berry, comatose. All silky skin, long legs, and those dark lashes that fluttered right before big coffee colored eyes appeared. 

“I suppose sitting here isn’t going to make her magically reappear,” Quinn grumbled and tossed back the blankets. Stumbling over to her dresser she yanked open the top drawer, intending on wearing her most beloved pair of shorts. They were absolutely falling apart, faded, and the elastic was all but worthless, but her FBI Academy shorts (that pair in particular) were her favorite. For no reason other than they just were.

They were also missing.

“Clothing thief,” she growled but with no malice whatsoever. Rachel shared Quinn’s love for the tattered shorts and the blonde had a suspicion that it was only because the diva had noticed Quinn’s affinity for them.

She opted for the next best thing and slipped into her Batman boxers with a giddy grin. There was something about wearing clothing that would have made her father turn purple in the face that gave her such, well, glee. 

Once fully clothed, warm and happy, she padded out of her bedroom on bare feet, loving the fact that she wasn’t wearing a ‘uniform’ for her day. If she had her way they’d be in boxers, or less, all day. Because if they were really going to get a day off together, they were going to celebrate like it was Christmas, Halloween, the Fourth of fucking July and her Birthday all rolled into one.

As she neared the kitchen, she slowed her pace and finally stopped completely, leaning limply into the hallway wall as she took in the scene playing out in her kitchen.

Rachel was standing there, in Quinn’s stolen shorts and her Georgetown t-shirt, trying to make breakfast it appeared. Not that she was accomplishing much at the moment. The bowl, of what Quinn guessed to be vegan pancake batter, sat neglected on the counter while the diva danced away from it singing along with the radio into the whisk she was holding. Her hips circled and swayed as she quietly, for her, belted out the lyrics to Ray Lamontagne’s “You are the Best Thing”. 

Only one thing was missing.

Relaxing her knees just enough, Quinn edged forward, eyes trained hard on Rachel’s head as she crept up behind the distracted starlet. Quinn’s mouth was practically watering as she looked at Rachel’s legs in her shorts, so smooth and toned and... awesome. 

The brunette let out a squeal which then turned to giggles as Quinn pounced on her, playfully biting at her neck and shoulder.

“Got you,” Quinn announced.

“Yes, you do,” Rachel sighed, deflating. “I’m trying to make breakfast.”

“No you weren’t, you were holding a mini-concert in my kitchen. The salt and pepper shakers can’t applaud you know.”

“If they could, they would,” the brunette informed her smugly, turning in her arms so they were face to face. “I was trying to surprise you, but you know how I need a soundtrack for my life. Imagine my surprise when I turn on your iPod and find a mix dedicated to me.”

“To us,” Quinn corrected and blushed, gaze flicking over Rachel’s shoulder to her iPod. “I take it you’re pleased with the selection?”

“Hmm, I don’t really know yet, I haven’t made it very far through the playlist and I didn’t actually skim through. I wanted to hear what you’d chosen, not read it.”

Soft piano chords interrupted Quinn’s response as Adele’s “One and Only” started to play. The blonde swallowed and smiled as she started to sway them gently. 

“I like this one,” Rachel said, beaming and bright eyed. 

Quinn looped her arms around the petite woman’s hips as they slow danced around her kitchen. She started to sing along, quietly adding her voice to Adele’s.

“I love when you sing to me.”

“I love you,” Quinn told her, holding her more tightly as she recalled their conversation from earlier that morning.

“Quinn Fabray, hopeless romantic. Who knew?”

“Only for you. To everyone else, I’m still Quinn Fabray, head bitch in charge.”

Rachel wrinkled her nose, “Don’t you mean, Quinn Fabray, Special Agent in Charge?”

“That too,” Quinn chuckled and dipped her girlfriend as the song came to an end. “So breakfast?”

“Vegan pancakes with fresh peaches on top?”

Quinn sighed and straightened them back up, delighting in the little giggle the motion earned. She pressed a delicate kiss to the tip of Rachel’s nose and let her go back to the pancake batter. “Can I help?”

“Hmm, can you start slicing peaches?”

“Yes, ma’am,” pleased to be able to assist in their breakfast making, she happily dug into her assigned task. Rachel started singing along again, dancing around the kitchen and dragging the blonde along with her a couple of times. It was completely counter-productive to their pancake making, but Quinn found she didn’t really care as she twirled a laughing Rachel. “At this rate we’re never going to eat.”

“Aw, don’t ruin my fun, Quinn,” the diva said, trying to pout while trying to keep her lips from twitching upwards. “I’m enjoying the musical expression of your feelings about our relationship. It’s very sweet.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, in fact I’m curious why this is the first time I’m hearing it, were you ever planning on sharing it with me?”

Pausing in her slicing of fuzzy fruit, Quinn turned and felt her blush return. Rachel and music went together like bread and butter, everywhere she went there was music – or she’d sing, hum or tap her own. Everything in the diva’s life came back to the music. In the face of that, Quinn couldn’t bring herself to present the playlist because while those songs held something in her heart, about Rachel and how she felt about them, she didn’t think she could take it if Rachel was upset by a song choice. Beyond that, as much as she truly and deeply loved the other woman, it was still hard to talk about… things. So used to keeping everything pent up or buried, finding an outlet to express her feelings safely was hard. Rachel had singing, Quinn had her job, but training at the range, or the gym, or drowning herself in work only helped with anger. She turned to her iPod, finding something tender and fragile in her music. It was safe to sing along with those songs and feel the unbelievable rush of love and happiness. But never with anyone else. The playlist was a secret, as closely guarded as her heart, or had been. And as Rachel continued to study her, waiting for an answer – Quinn wasn’t sure how she could, suddenly incredibly insecure.

“I – um, I was afraid you wouldn’t like it,” she finally mumbled and bowed her head, quickly focusing back on her peaches.

“What? Why wouldn’t I like it? Is this because of the comment I made about the eclectic nature of your collection? I knew I shouldn’t have said that your iPod was as confused as Kurt that time he tried to date Brittany. My iPod is, admittedly, just as diverse. I was trying to be funny, like I do sometimes, and I never thought that my attempts at humor would make you feel like I didn’t appreciate your tastes. In fact that’s incredibly wrong, I find it very exciting and quite charming that we both have such a wide range of genres, and that a lot of those are shared. Though your metal collection does scare me, I’m sorry but it sounds painful and I’m still unsure as to how they make those sounds without permanently damaging their vocal chords, and since when are piggy squealing noises considered singing? Furthermore…”

Quinn went somewhat cross eyed as Rachel lost herself in her rant.

“…Not that that really matters, because that’s not what we’re discussing. Though I may now have to look up metal music just to see where it originated and possibly learn how it is that they do make those noises. I have to respect and admire the complexity of their music and the talent they must have to be able to play at such a high level. Even if you can’t understand a word they’re saying, there’s no denying their incredible musicianship…”

“Rachel?” She worried sometimes that Rachel would get caught in a loop and actually really never stop. “Rachel!”

“Hm?”

The blonde quirked and eyebrow and shook her head fondly. “I’m just more insecure about making bold musical statements of my feelings to you. You are music and I didn’t want you to be offended or get upset if your interpretation of one of these songs was different from mine.” 

Rachel’s hands dropped back to her sides as her passionate ramble was effectively cut off. “You wouldn’t have shared this with me because you were afraid of artistic differences?”

Quinn shrugged and nodded sheepishly, stunned when Rachel jumped at her, wrapping her legs around her waist, arms around her neck. Luckily, Quinn caught on to her intent soon enough to grab and hold her.

“That is so sweet!”

Confused, but pleased that she wasn’t getting lectured about self expression, especially about her feelings in regards to the brunette in her arms, Quinn smiled shyly. Colbie Caillat cooed in the background and Rachel paused to listen, head tilted to the side as she concentrated on the lyrics.

“Quinn, so far these tracks have been ridiculously adorable and I think I’m falling more in love with you just from listening to them, and on top of that, you’re being shy and cute! I’m so glad that I accidentally stumbled upon this, otherwise I might never have known. It truly is a very romantic thing to me, sharing music from your heart. Glee, remember? You should know by now, Quinn, you don’t have to hide your feelings from me. Besides, I’m a little bit psychic and while your poker face is indomitable, I can still tell how you’re feeling anyway – most of the time. I think.”

A light rap on the door stopped Quinn from replying. Both of them turned towards the sound, wearing matching frowns.

“Who could possibly...?”

“Never, I’ll never get a day off!” Quinn groaned and slowly slipped her hands away from the smaller woman’s thighs, giving her a chance to get her legs under her. “I’ll be right back, but you may be eating breakfast on your own.”

The diva’s frown deepened at the idea, she glared daggers as whoever it was knocked again. “Like hell, they can’t keep giving you a day off and then take it away. We don’t ever get the same days off! I’m seriously considering killing your boss.”

Quinn shook her head as she headed for her front door. “They’d just replace him with someone worse,” she called back over her shoulder. 

She didn’t even bother with looking through the peephole, she just unlocked and wrenched her door open, expecting Ryan. Her eyebrows drew together as she was greeted with nothing but empty air.

“Aunt Quinn!”

Shocked, she glanced sharply down to find herself looking into the beaming face of her sister’s daughter. “Abbey?”

The little dark haired girl loosed one hand from around the puppy in her arms and waved giddily. 

“We brought Cosmo!”

“I - you - where’s your mom?” Quinn sputtered just as Camille made her presence known further down the hall.

“Abbey Lynn,” her older sister groaned, toting two suitcases and a backpack down the hall. “I told you to wait.”

Quinn blinked, shook her head, closed her eyes tight and opened them again, only to see what she had before. A small blue eyed child at her doorstep, near strangling the beloved pet in her arms, and her harried looking older sister with a bright red blush painting her cheeks.

“I smell pancakes!” Abbey announced and loosed her puppy between Quinn’s legs. Cosmo darted into the apartment immediately and seconds later Quinn heard Rachel shriek in surprise.

“Quinn! There’s either a small dog, or an exceptionally large rodent in the apartment!”

“Who’s that, Aunt Q?” Abbey knelt down to peer into the apartment.

“I -” Before she could get in a word, or engage her brain long enough to figure out what she was trying to say, Abbey followed the path of her pet and slipped through Quinn’s legs with a squeal of delight, running in to meet the new person. Cam too, seemed to be having trouble with the brain to mouth connection as she stopped in front of her sister. They stared at one another for a long moment.

“Quinn?” Rachel called again, sounding decidedly unsure of the small person who was no doubt talking her ear off.

“You have company, I should’ve called first,” Cam finally spoke. 

“Camille,” Quinn said and shook her head. Never in a million years would she have expected her sister showing up on her doorstep. They weren’t exactly on the best of terms and the agent felt awkward seeing her there, obviously looking for help. “What?”

“Sean - Sean and I are...” Cam’s eyes, those vibrant blue eyes Quinn had always been so envious of, filled with tears. 

“I get it,” Quinn said, saving the older blonde her painful story. “So you thought you’d come stay with me?”

“I’m sorry, you’re closer and I don’t think I can tell Mom right now.”

“How much communication do you have with Mom?”

“Not a lot, just birthday’s, Christmas - holidays and that sort of thing.” Cam shuffled the backpack across her shoulders and licked her lips. “If you want us to go, I understand, I can be a grown up and call Mo-”

“No,” Quinn shook her head, but leveled her sister with a hard look. “My home is always open to you and Abbey. No matter what.”

“Quinn, I’m - I’m so sorry that I didn’t listen, didn’t come get you when you asked. I didn’t -”

“Nope, you sure didn’t. As soon as you could, you got the hell out of Lima and as far away from us as you could. I get it. There’s some things about me that you don’t know now and, to be blunt, when you see them you may decide for yourself to go elsewhere.” She spoke quietly, but firmly, keeping her eyes locked onto her sisters widening ones.

“Excuse me, Quinn? Hello? Yes, would you care to tell me...” Rachel appeared at the younger blonde’s side, utterly confused at the turn her morning had taken. The diva trailed off as she noticed the other woman. “Um, hello?”

“Camille, this is Rachel. Rachel, my sister Camille.”

It took Camille Fabray all of ten seconds to put two and two together.

Her reaction was slightly more dramatic than their mother’s had been.


	3. Chapter 3

They had finally managed to move from their position in the hallway, Abbey was ‘helping’ Rachel finish up breakfast preparations while Quinn escorted her still gaping older sister back to the guest room. Quinn’s apartment wasn’t huge, she didn’t need a lot of space since it was usually just her, and now Rachel most nights, but she paid for the second bedroom in case her mother came up to visit. She’d never been more glad to have the extra space. Without being told she eyed Camille’s bags and figured she’d be having company for quite a while and she wouldn’t want her sister and niece trying to make camp in her living room. As it was she was going to have to make some sort of arrangement for them because she only had the one guest bed and it was a twin. Trying to sleep in that bed with a squirmy child wasn’t feasible.

Quinn pursed her lips as she surveyed the space, contemplating air mattresses.

Cam sat slowly on the edge of the bed and dropped her head into her hands. “How long?”

“How long what?”

“Quinn, please,” Cam looked so bone weary as she rubbed at her forehead. “Don’t play.”

“Awhile, Freshman year of college - though if I think about it, always.” Sighing the younger blonde dropped down to sit beside her sister and waved her hand in the air. “Rachel? Six, wait, seven months.”

“Rachel.”

“Yeah, Rachel Berry.”

“Rachel Berry,” Cam mulled that over for a moment, “I feel I should know that name.”

“She’s kind of a big deal on Broadway - well not ‘kind of’; Rachel’s the newest craze on stage. They absolutely adore her. Beyond that though, I went to High School with her.”

“Oh, that Rachel Berry.” The older blonde nodded and chewed on her lip as she considered the newest information. “The one with two dads who you talked non-stop about? I thought you didn’t like her.”

“Things change, I grew up and made some realizations about myself and my reasons for not liking her.” Quinn sighed and shook her head, wincing as she remembered her history of abuse against the woman she now had the privilege of calling her girlfriend.

"So when you were visiting, and you said you were seeing someone - I told you to stop being afraid to commit, and it was Rachel you were talking about?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you then, it didn't feel like the right time. Our relationship was just sort of getting repaired, I didn't want to strain it again by bringing up something that might... be hard for you to take." She shot her sister a sidelong look. She was still chewing at her lip and looking anywhere but at her.

"And Mom, she knows?"

"She doesn't understand really, but respects and supports me. I haven't made introductions yet, we talk on the phone though, she knows about Rachel."

Cam toyed with her wedding ring, spinning it around her finger absently while Quinn patiently waited for her decision. "Are you happy?"

The agent smiled and nodded. "Incredibly, she's everything I never expected to have. We have our moments, she's a diva in every sense of the word, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Actually, if you can - you two would probably get along."

"I'll try Quinn, I owe that to you at least. I'm not entirely comfortable with it, to be as completely honest as you've been with me. We weren't raised to be accepting and I'll fight against that as best I can. I need time. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, it's what I have though. I'll try."

"Hey, you're not screaming at me, throwing things, or calling me an abomination. This conversation has already gone better than I imagined. All I ask is that as long as you're around me, in my home, and around Rachel, that you treat her with respect. If you find that you can't handle this, take it out on me, not her."

"I can do that."

"Alright. So, breakfast?" Quinn slapped her thighs and stood, not bothering to wait for Cam as she threw open the door and headed off down the hallway towards the sounds of giggles and grumbling. She paused, just as she had earlier that morning and couldn’t resist the smirk that pulled at her mouth.

Rachel was pressed as close to the counter as she could get, holding a spatula like a weapon pointed at Cosmo. Abbey was sitting near her on a stool and giggling as her little dog continued to inch his way towards the unhappy starlet. His tail wagged in circles as he encroached on Rachel’s personal bubble.

“He likes you!” the child chirped, oblivious to the older woman’s distress.

“Yes, well, that’s - yes, hello tiny furry thing, I see you there. Please, respect my wishes and stay... over there, away from me. I promise my toes are quite clean and in no need of your sweet, but misguided, attempts at cleaning them. Thank you, yes.”

Quinn decided to rescue her girlfriend before there was squealing and she had to peel the smaller woman off the ceiling - or at least the island. She swooped in and gathered up the small animal, cooing at him and allowing him to lick her chin and nose. “Aw, Rach, isn’t he cute? We should get one!”

“Yeah Aunt Q! Then Cosmo could have a friend!”

The agent beamed at her niece and pointedly avoided the death glare being leveled at her from across the kitchen. “We’ll see, Scooter.”

“Abbey, maybe you could take Cosmo from your Auntie so she and Rachel can finish breakfast?” Cam seemed to have found her voice finally, but she was still staring between her sister and Rachel, like she was trying to get her brain around the facts at hand. 

“Okay Mom, but guess what!” 

Quinn handed off the puppy to the dark haired child and crossed over to Rachel to peer over her slender shoulder at the pancakes on the griddle. “You’re going to burn these, Superstar.”

“What’s that, Scooter?” Cam asked her daughter.

“Rachel’s super nice and she said she’d color with me after breakfast!”

Rachel blushed at Quinn’s surprised but warm look, and busied herself flipping the pancakes. Cam also seemed taken aback by the offer and took renewed interest in the smallest of the women in the kitchen. Her sister’s girlfriend...

The diva cleared her throat and piled the finished breakfast onto a plate. “Pancakes are ready. That is if Quinn has finished cutting peaches?”

“There’s enough sliced for these two, and for you.” She knew it might make her sister uncomfortable, but she’d already told herself that she wouldn’t hide who she was - she kissed Rachel’s cheek sweetly and gripped her hips to turn her away from the griddle. “You eat, I’ll make my own. I’m a big girl and all.” She winked over at Abbey who giggled and cuddled up to her mother’s leg, suddenly bashful.

Breakfast was a silent affair, punctuated only by the sounds of utensils scraping and clinking against plates. Rachel sat on the kitchen island, to keep herself away from Cosmo, who sat on the floor at her feet, watching with pure puppy adoration.

As soon as everyone was finished, Cam helped Quinn gather the dishes, then disappeared, phone in hand, back down the hallway. Abbey stayed where she was, watching Quinn and Rachel with a curious glint in her baby blue eyes. The diva stayed on her perch, barely containing her disdain for the critter who seemed hell bent on making her his new best friend. Her girlfriend, meanwhile, simply began to wash the dishes and tried to hide her amusement. 

“I can see you smirking, you know,” Rachel said, leaning in close to deliver the message. 

“I suppose I should tell you then, that animals always seem to sense when someone doesn’t like them - and then make it their mission to change your mind. It’s always the dog haters that end up being the favorite person.”

“I’m not a dog hater!” the brunette hissed. “That is not a dog, it’s a glorified cat. A Labrador is a dog, a German Shepherd is a dog. That is some strange mutant, possibly a mad scientist type combination of a mop and a... woodchuck. Not a dog.”

She couldn’t help it, Quinn burst into laughter and playfully nudged Rachel. “Careful, there are ears all around. Abbey loves that mutant.”

“Aunt Q?”

Giving the starlet a pointed look, Quinn hummed her response and flicked some suds over at her niece. 

“Can Rachel and I color now?”

“Rachel’s going to help me with the dishes, Abbey, then you guys can color all day if you want.”

Rachel nodded and beamed over at the clapping girl. “Just let me finish this up and we’ll go raid your Aunt’s secret stash of crayons.”

“Aunt Quinn! You have crayons?”

“I - yeah, for if you and your Mom ever came to visit.”

“Why are they a secret?”

“Because if I didn’t hide them, Uncle Ryan would steal them so he could color.” The blonde nodded sagely. She started humming absentmindedly, then singing to herself, as she washed the dishes methodically, handing them off to Rachel to dry when she was finished scouring the surfaces to rid them of any syrupy residue. Before she knew it, Rachel had joined her, adding a rich harmony until they were both singing loudly, and grinning at one another like fools.

Abbey sat and listened to the impromptu serenading, watching the strange adults, until she couldn’t hold the question any longer. “Aunt Quinn, what are you singing?”

“Favorite Things, Scooter.”

“It’s pretty,” Abbey said. “What’s it from?”

Quinn immediately closed her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek, she could hear the sharp inhale from her side and imagined Rachel’s eyes practically bugging out of her head.

“Abbey, you’ve never seen ‘The Sound of Music’?” Rachel squeaked.

“Oh god, here we go,” the blonde muttered and turned to her girlfriend who, sure enough, had eyes as wide as saucers as she scrutinized the little girl.

Abbey, for her part, looked fairly confused at the reaction. Her nose wrinkled and one of her eyebrows darted up to her hairline in a perfect imitation of Quinn and Frannie. The well known Fabray eyebrow of doom had apparently been inherited. Rachel couldn’t help but think that was much better than her Jewish nose.

“You can’t see sounds,” Abbey informed them incredulously. 

“Quinn! This is a tragedy, an absolute disaster! It’s a movie Abbey, a wonderful, amazing, magical movie. I have to fix this.” Rachel jumped from the counter and ignored Cosmo completely as she all but ran into the living room to dig through Quinn’s extensive movie collection. “You don’t have ‘The Sound of Music’?”

Rolling her eyes skyward, Quinn sighed. “Uh, no, after being forced to watch it every year for Christmas at my Grandmothers, I vowed to never watch it again. What are you doing?”

“Calling Rosie.”

“You’re calling your assistant on your day off?” Quinn quirked her own eyebrow, knowing Rosie would answer the phone, and wondering for the millionth time if she could ask the young woman where she’d learned her remarkable patience from.

“She has an assistant?” Cam asked as she ambled back into the kitchen to observe the controlled chaos going on. “What are we calling the assistant for?”

“Yes, Rachel has a wonderful assistant who, frankly, is a lifesaver. Rosie’s an amazing young woman who is probably underpaid for the things she puts up with.”

“I heard that!”

Biting her lip, the blonde shook her head fondly and gestured at hurricane Berry. “I don’t have ‘The Sound of Music’ and you have been remiss as a parent and I’m a failure as an Aunt because Abbey hasn’t seen it.”

“Rosie! It’s an emergency! I need you to go to my apartment and get my collectors edition copy of ‘The Sound of Music’ right now and bring it to Quinn's! Yes, I’m serious! A precious mind is in danger!”


	4. Chapter 4

After a long day of coloring and ‘musical exposure to broaden and enrich bright young minds’ Rachel had fallen asleep quickly. Quinn, on the other hand, had stayed awake a little longer, worrying over her sister and the exhaustion that had overtaken her girlfriend’s normally bubbly personality. Cam had seemed to grow more comfortable around the starlet as the day wore on, most likely taken with her daughter’s interaction with Rachel. The two had bonded immediately and were practically inseparable after their loud debate about Disney Princesses. 

Though Rachel still held no love for Cosmo. 

Watching the two together was painful - she couldn’t deny that - because she wondered if Beth and Rachel would have been the same way. Abbey looked nothing like Quinn imagined her daughter did, but it didn’t keep the hurt away. She did her best to push the thoughts down and focus her attention on her beaming diva and the way her sister started to warm up to Rachel as well. 

She took that as a good sign.

Rachel though, that was a different matter. The brunette’s energy had flagged noticeably and half-way into Shrek she was buried in a blanket, curled into Quinn’s side, and silent. She didn’t even say anything about the ‘poor baby birdies!’ Fiona cooked for breakfast like she normally did. By the end of the movie she was asleep, one hand holding her throat, with a frown pulling down her lips. Quinn had met Cam’s eyes from across the sofa and found even her sister looking at the tiny woman with concern.

When she’d roused Rachel to go to bed, her brown eyes were shimmery and a flush had spread over her cheekbones. Despite the signs, she didn’t have a fever and was very unhappy at the suggestion that she might be sick. All she needed (so she said multiple times) was a mug of tea and some sleep... with her humidifier. 

Unwilling to battle with her, Quinn had quickly agreed to every demand, though the tea had ended up half-full and chilled on her bedside table. Rachel hadn’t even managed to stay awake long enough to finish her most beloved beverage.

She’d been laying there, listening to Rachel’s breathing and the barely there sound of the humidifier, letting her mind wander over thoughts of Beth, Camille, and of course Rachel. Always Rachel. Sleep had taken it’s sweet time in finding her, but eventually she fell into it, holding on to Rachel’s hand where it pressed against her stomach.

“Aunt Quinn?”

Quinn’s eyes snapped open into the dark of her room. Balled up behind her, face in the crook of her neck, Rachel stirred and moaned lowly at the intrusion on her sleep cycle. “Too early.”

Slightly confused, the blonde blinked and a small shape came into focus. “Abbey?” Quinn propped herself up on an elbow and pushed her hair back from her face. Her niece stepped closer to the side of the bed, little hands tucked under her chin.

“I had a bad dream,” the tiny voice trembled over the words and Quinn felt a tug on her heart at the distressed sound.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she sighed. “Where’s your Mom?”

“I want to be with you,” Abbey whimpered.

Rachel grumbled and twisted, her hand slipped away and gripped a handful of t-shirt at the small of the agents back instead. Quinn blinked and wondered how her sister would feel about her daughter crawling into bed with them, but decided there was no way she could turn away the teary child in front of her. She pulled back the blanket and Abbey immediately scrambled up onto the tall bed, with no hesitation at all when she saw Rachel nestled in behind her Aunt.

“What did you dream about, Scooter?” Quinn asked softly, pulling the warm little body into hers. Abbey sniffled and wormed her way closer, face against Quinn’s chest, mimicking Rachel’s tucked position. The blonde sighed again, too hot with the blankets and both bodies snuggled up with her. Not that she would change it for the world.

“There was a monster and he chased us and ate Cosmo!” 

Shushing the girl in her arms proved to be almost as difficult as calming her starlet. She worked the same pattern she did with Rachel. Stroking her palms over her shivering niece's back and hair, over and over until the shakes subsided. She couldn’t stop herself from pretending that it was a different little girl curled up in her arms seeking refuge from bad dreams. Soon it was once again just the sound of Rachel’s wheezy breathing and the gurgle of the humidifier in the corner. She closed her eyes and hugged her niece closer, holding her with one arm so she could reach back for Rachel with the other. They were both right up against her, Abbey sniffling into her chest, Rachel bathing her neck with soft exhalations. Abbey’s hands were under her chin still, pushing against her sternum while Rachel’s breasts pressed against her back with each inhale. Her diva kept a firm hold of her t-shirt at the base of her spine, as though she needed to keep her tethered to her.

Quinn was not going to go anywhere.

“Aunt Quinn, monsters aren’t real, right?” Abbey asked groggily. Quinn raised an eyebrow, having thought everyone had been asleep but her, yet again.

“Of course not,” she assured her. “Even if they were, your Mom and I would never let anything bad happen to you.”

“And Rachel?” The little girl stretched one fist up and stroked a lock of the diva’s hair which had fallen over Quinn’s shoulder.

“Yup, and Rachel. You are so safe, sweetheart, the President should be jealous ‘cause your bodyguards are way better.”

“What about Cosmo?”

Smiling into the dark, Quinn thought of Rachel’s attempts to stay far away from the small dog all day. “Cosmo too. No monsters are getting any of you on my watch.”

“You’re my hero, Aunt Quinn,” Abbey whispered and nuzzled against Quinn’s chest, hand still curled around Rachel’s hair and Quinn’s shirt.

The familiar pang lit up her senses, but she swallowed down the torrent of emotions and craned her neck so she could see the dark head of hair that moved with her chest every time she inhaled. “That’s the nicest thing anyone ever said to me, Abbey.”

“Will you stay awake until I fall asleep?”

“Anything for you,” Quinn promised and rubbed away the tear that had escaped onto her pillow.

\---

When Cam woke up she was confused at first as to where she was. Sean wasn’t behind her and she frowned as she turned over to locate her husband only to nearly roll off the bed. Not her bed. Right, Quinn’s guest room, twin bed. It all came back in a quick rush and she had to rub at her eyes in an attempt to banish the tears. Her recent memories were filled with harsh whispered arguments that escalated into shouting and slammed doors. 

She dragged in a deep, raggedy breath and rolled back over, realizing then that there was a body missing from her side. Not her husband's, but the much smaller form of her child. Panic gripped her. She knew that Abbey was probably up already and holding court with Quinn or... Rachel, but all she could focus on was the fact that her baby was not where she’d fallen asleep and the need to find her.

Stumbling out of the sheets and off down the hall, she heard the soft sounds of a woman’s voice and the lighter, animated babbling of Abbey and hurried towards the kitchen.

Sure enough, Abbey was sitting on the edge of the island, feet kicking absently, Rachel beside her.

“Do you and Aunt Q have sleepovers a lot? I’m only allowed to have Tausha over on weekends.” Abbey was saying, she peered up at the older brunette curiously.

“I - hmm,” Rachel tilted her head and rubbed at her neck. Camille rushed the last few steps to try and rescue her little sister’s girlfriend.

“Good morning, Scooter,” she chirped loudly, nodding discreetly over at the visibly relieved diva. “You’re up early.”

“I had a bad dream, but Aunt Quinn let me stay with her and made the monsters go away.”

Blinking rapidly and trying to ignore the other woman’s blush, Cam pasted on a smile and stooped to kiss the crown of Abbey’s head. “That was nice of her.”

“Aunt Quinn’s the best!”

Rachel cleared her throat and hopped off the counter, nimbly stepping over to the fridge and prying open the door. “Camille, breakfast?”

“It’s Cam, Rachel and absolutely, but first, is there tea by chance?”

The smaller woman smirked and jerked her head to indicate further down the counter. “Quinn isn’t a fan, but I am. There’s an assortment in the basket there and the kettle’s hot still. Help yourself. They’re all organic too. I recommend the mint. I should warn you though, they’re caffeine free, so if you’re looking for caffeine, I think the coffee might be more up your alley.”

“Thanks,” Cam grinned and maneuvered her way around Rachel, sighing happily at the sight of all the various teas.

“May I ask a question?” Rachel toyed with her fingers, still standing in the light of the refrigerator, though she wasn’t actively searching it for anything.

Mug in hand, Cam nodded and leaned her hip against the counter, taking a long sip of the hot liquid. Most mornings she missed coffee, and the little bit of caffeine boost, but there was something magical about a warm cup of tea.

“Why do you call Abbey ‘Scooter’?”

Abbey remained silent for once, mouth full of some sort of cereal, but her eyes danced back and forth between her mother and the other woman.

“Oh,” Camille laughed and shook her head. “When Abbey was a baby she wouldn’t crawl. She would just, sort of, brace her hands and scoot her butt around. It doesn’t sound like it would be very effective but she was fast. She never really did crawl, just went from scooting to running.”

“Well, would you look at all the early risers,” Quinn said, announcing her arrival into the room. Cam did a double-take, having yet to see her sister in her work attire. It was certainly different from the casual clothes she was used to seeing her in. The dark grey suit looked like it had been perfectly tailored to lay in the most flattering way possible against Quinn’s athletic build. Gone was her cheerleader sister, in her place stood a woman. A professional. No more school books, or whimsical novels; now she had a holster and a gun. The hair clips and braids, cute jewelry, none of that was anywhere to be seen.

Rachel smiled so sweetly that Cam had to look away, unable to handle the gooey look they were sharing. Not because they were both women, but because it made her heart ache when she remembered that she used to look at Sean like that. She turned back in time to see the brunette handing Quinn her badge and ID card. It shouldn’t have made her ache to witness her sister hand back over her shiny gold badge and step in just that much closer to Rachel. Her stomach shouldn’t have been clenching that hard when Rachel bit her bottom lip and attached the shield to Quinn’s hip. But it did and she felt at once lost and wounded, simply seeing the silent exchange between two people who had a domestic routine. They didn’t need to say a word, their eyes said it all.

“Your highly processed and chemically colored cereal is on the island,” Rachel said, accepting the kiss to her cheek with a small smirk. “And I already filled your travel mug with coffee. The fact that it’s organic coffee and is the healthiest thing you’re ingesting this morning is sadly amusing to me.”

“You are the best thing,” Quinn replied and grinned when Rachel lit up and giggled. A private joke, of some sort, Cam figured. “I’ll have to eat it in the car though; I'm running behind this morning.”

“And whose fault is that?” Rachel winked and closed the fridge door softly. “Walk you to the door?”

“Like I would let you get away with not.”

Camille busied herself with Abbey, wiping the little girl’s face with a paper-towel and refilling her cup of juice. She quirked an eyebrow when she opened the fridge and noted the difference between the shelves. Also surprised by how almost everything inside was organic. Last she knew, Quinn wasn’t so much a health nut, so she had to surmise she was seeing more of Rachel’s influence.

However, just because she wasn’t looking at the couple didn’t mean she couldn’t hear them.

“I think you should skip rehearsal, Rachel. Your throat is still bugging you.”

“Absolutely not. You’re crazy - beautiful and charming also, but crazy. The only reason I would ever miss rehearsal or a performance would be complete loss of voice or maybe if I needed surgery or something equally dire. Let’s pray that never happens because I would be devastated to miss a moment on stage! Applause to live, Quinn, to live.”

“Alright, Tinkerbell, I got it. Just try and take it easy, for my sake? I love you.”

“I love you too, Captain Fabray, go save the world.”

“Absolutely darlin’” Quinn drawled in a flawless English accent which had Cam’s other eyebrow joining it’s twin at her hairline.

The door closed and Rachel returned to the kitchen, tugging at a lock of her hair with a goofy grin. She dodged Cosmo easily as the puppy scampered around her feet, yipping and wagging his tail. 

“Rachel?”

“Abbey?”

“Can we color some more before you have to go?”

“You don’t have to ask me twice! But can I color a Princess Jasmine for you?”

“Yeah!”

Camille picked Abbey up and set her gently on the floor before her stunt-woman of a child could launch herself down. She swatted at her backside playfully and watched her scurry into the living room to retrieve the books and crayons from the entertainment center. Cosmo abandoned Rachel’s feet and chased after his owner, allowing Rachel to relax finally and share a quick lopsided smile with Cam. 

“She’s very sweet,” Rachel commented over the rim of her own mug. It was a strange cup, Cam took a moment to study it. It had a large star painted on it, and a dozen or so smaller hearts. She couldn’t make out the text at first, but as soon as she made out the ‘Q’ the rest fell into place easy enough. ‘Quinn + Rachel’, it read.

Beaming with pride, the eldest Fabray nodded her agreement. “She’s my little angel. Thank you for indulging her with the coloring and movies, it’s very nice of you. I’m sure you have a million other things you could be doing.”

The tiny diva waved a hand. “I love it. She’s precious and a joy to be around. I just wish I could stay and play all day.”

“But the stage calls?”

Rachel nodded slowly. “It always calls.”

“Rachel! Are you coming?” Abbey asked, holding onto Cosmo and waving a box of crayons with her free hand.

At the call of her name Rachel smiled warmly at Cam and headed into the living room to drop onto the floor next to her girlfriend’s niece and accepted the proffered coloring book and crayons. Cam watched them and wondered at how easy it actually was to see Abbey with Rachel and not be concerned about what she was ‘exposing’ her daughter to. Quinn loved Rachel, Rachel loved Quinn, it was as obvious as anything and she couldn’t deny it. Or the fact that the more she thought about it, the less she cared about how she was supposed to feel about it. She was always her father’s daughter, always a Fabray, but she was more than her last name - and Camille loved her sister, and was well on her way to liking Rachel.

Pondering this development further she set herself to finding a bowl and made mental note to have Quinn take her grocery shopping later. Covertly listening in to the excited conversation taking place a few feet from her.

“Abbey, you spelled your name wrong,” Rachel corrected gently, reaching for the paper Abbey was showing her.

“No I didn’t,” Abbey shook her head and squinted down at her scrawled signature to double check anyway.

“Isn’t it A-B-B-Y? Short for Abigail?”

“No, Mommy and Daddy named me after a bug band. Abbey Rhoades.”

“The Beatles?” Rachel questioned, forehead scrunched as she undoubtedly ran through a list of groups that could qualify as ‘bug bands’ in her mind.

“Uh-huh,” Abbey rolled her eyes like Rachel was the most exasperatingly slow person she’d ever met. “Mommy says that they fell in love ‘cause of the bug band. Daddy and her liked it so much and everyone else at school thought it was dumb ‘cause it’s old. Daddy said it’s how he knew that Mommy was his Cinderella!”

Cam swallowed against the lump in her throat and set her head against the refrigerator door, silently willing her knees to stop shaking. It hurt. God, it hurt. Sean had been everything she’d ever wanted and now somehow it was slipping away from them. All his sweet words, his charming smile, the way he laughed with her and loved her. How did it get so messed up? The time had finally hit midnight on their romance, and all she had left was a broken pumpkin and one glass slipper. Her Abbey Lynn.

She straightened back up when something warm hit her legs, looking down she saw Sean’s clear blue eyes and her frown on her daughter’s face.

“Don’t be sad, Mommy. It’s a nice story, Cinderella gets a happy ending,” Abbey said. Always so earnest and innocent in her proclamations. 

Sniffling as quietly as she could, Camille knelt and gathered up her baby, holding her close.

“Yeah, Scooter, Cinderella gets a happy ending.”


	5. Chapter 5

The first time Quinn Fabray met the man who would be her best friend she knew in five seconds that she couldn’t stand him. Not his twinkling blue eyes, or his immaculately rumpled hair, and she definitely couldn’t take that stupidly perfect charming grin of his. 

Why her brain was choosing to replay this memory for her in her sleep she wasn’t really sure. It wasn’t that it was an unpleasant memory, they both laughed when they told the story to colleagues or significant others. Still it was a strange thing to pop-up in her dreams.

Ryan had just finished making a playful pass at her and a twisted, dangerous, sneer pulled at her lip. 

“Look, Agent Peterson, I’m going to do you a favor and stop you before I can’t stop myself. If you don’t walk away right now, I’m going to be forced to demonstrate why it is that people run the other way when they see me coming.”

“Aw, come on now, Quincy, don’t be that way. I’m just teasing... unless you’re going to take me up on that offer. No need for the hostility and that gorgeous snarl of yours. Has anyone told you that you’re spectacularly attractive when you’re angry?”

“Quincy? What is it with you and the nicknames? Are you really that juvenile?” The audacity of this man was intolerable. How dare he swagger up to her and trample all over her! Quinn Fabray! He was worse than any other man she’d had to shoot down over the years. It was written all over him. He was one of those that never gave up; the more you fought the harder they pressed your buttons. 

“Now now, Agent Fabray. I can tell, you and I are going to be attached at the hip before the year’s out. So stop fighting me. Wait and see, I’ll grow on you.”

“Like mold?” Quinn bit out. She crossed her arms and glared up at the infuriating man standing in her way, casually blocking her path with a long arm against the wall.

“More like pubic hair, you can shave me off but I’ll just grow back.” He winked, pushed himself off the wall and sauntered off. Leaving her standing there with her mouth flapping like a fish out of water.

The next morning she’d taped a brochure for permanent laser hair removal to his computer monitor.

A small sound interrupted her flashback, one that didn’t fit in with the distant ringing phones and office chatter of her dreamscape. 

It was apparently what she needed to pull herself free from the grip of sleep. She rubbed at her eyes as awareness seeped back in and wondered if there was some odd cycle of the moon or something going on. That was twice in one week so far that her sleep had been disturbed, and she’d be willing to bet that between little girls with bad dreams, her cell phone, and the whimpering woman beside her, that number would be growing.

Rachel whined again, hand against her throat. Quinn rolled over with a frown and reached out to wake the brunette. Her skin was clammy to the touch and yet her fingers recoiled at the heat radiating off Rachel’s cheek. She scooted closer, whispering Rachel’s name softly to try and rouse her. 

Her breathing had gotten worse, a wet rattle punctuating each shallow inhale and it wheezed out pathetically when she exhaled. Quinn’s frown deepened when she noticed the hitch and stutter that happened in the diva’s breathing pattern.

“Rachel, wake up.”

“Quinn?” Rachel kept her eyes closed, clenching them tighter as she frowned. Then her eyes flew open and her hand clutched more tightly against her neck. “I can’t - I can’t - swallow - breathe.”

Rachel was a dramatic person by nature, something that served her well in her career on stage, so Quinn knew that her little diva could be blowing her hurt out of proportion. Even the smallest amount. It didn’t stop the fear from racing through her at the panicked expression on Rachel’s face. “Alright, it’ll be okay, just try and take slow, deep breaths. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

Of course Rachel didn’t listen, if anything she started breathing more rapidly, sitting up in the bed and shoving all the blankets off of her. “It’s hot, oh my god, what’s happening?” Big fat tears started to slide down her face as she pushed back damp bangs and rubbed frantically at the base of her throat. “Did my tonsils rupture? I’ve grown a tumor!”

“Rachel!” Quinn grabbed her shoulders and peered into teary, pain filled eyes. “You’re alright, you’re just sick. I’m going to take you to the hospital, just give me a second.”

“Hurts,” Rachel keened. The blonde’s chest tightened at the sound, she pressed a kiss to the starlet’s sweat slicked hair line and couldn’t help but hug her.

“I know, Superstar, I’m going to take care of you. Hold on.”

She threw herself out of the bed, shucked her shorts off and dragged on a pair of track pants before slipping as calmly as she could out of her bedroom. 

Camille was asleep on the air mattress next to the bed in her guest room. Abbey had the twin bed; she was nothing more than a little ball under the blanket with shocks of dark hair peeking up out of her cocoon. Quinn had to watch her step, trying to be stealthy enough to keep from waking the child. “Cam?”

“Quinn,” her sister was awake instantly, ever the light sleeper, sitting up and blinking at her. “What is it?”

“Rachel’s really sick, I’m taking her to the hospital. I think it might be strep. I don’t know when we’ll be back.”

She wasn’t sure what to expect as far as a reaction from her groggy looking sibling, it certainly wasn’t the warm hand that gripped hers or the softly asked, “is she going to be okay?”

Shaking her head, she swallowed and shrugged. “I think so, she’s pretty rattled right now, but I don’t think it’s anything serious. Pray it’s not.”

“I will. You don’t need me to come with you?” Cam asked, rubbing at her forehead and glancing over to check on the still slumbering Abbey.

“No, no, you guys stay here and sleep,” Quinn assured her and stood back up, touched by her sister’s concern. “I’ll call if we end up... staying.”

“Call anyway,” Cam said. “Do you need help getting her to the car? Or maybe a glass of cold water before you leave?”

Surprised by the offer but warmed by it, Quinn shook her head again. “I’ve got her. Thank you, though, Cammie.” She hoped that her ‘thank you’ conveyed everything she meant - not simply a thanks for the offer to help, but that Cam was even asking and willing to help with Rachel.

The other blonde simply nodded, but stood from her bed anyway. Quinn didn’t bother to ask what she was doing, just turned and headed back towards her bedroom. Camille shadowed her footsteps down the hallway but stopped short of the door. 

Light sobs could be heard from behind it.

Quinn jumped when Cam’s hand slipped into hers again and squeezed. Squaring her shoulders and pasting on her brave face the agent eased the door open and fought the moisture stinging behind her eyes. Rachel was sitting in the bed, both hands over her face, hunched over and crying. Quinn sprang into action, all but leaping onto the bed to crawl over to her weeping girlfriend, Cam hesitated then went the other way. 

“Rach,” Quinn cooed, and gathered Rachel into her arms, sliding them towards the end of the bed slowly.

“It hurts so bad and I’m scared,” Rachel stuttered out between gasps. She latched on tightly to Quinn’s shirt and wormed her way onto her lap, getting in as close as possible to the comfort she needed. “This is worse than when they said I needed my tonsils out. Oh god, what if I need my tonsils out? I need those!” 

Cam reappeared, like any godsend would, a glass of water in her hand. The ice cubes inside crackled and tinked along the side of the glass. Grateful beyond words Quinn whispered her thanks and nudged her shoulder against Rachel’s head gently. 

“It’s all going to work out, Superstar. Can you sip some of this water? It’ll help the soreness.”

“Quinn,” Rachel bawled and twisted further into the shelter of Quinn’s body. 

“Just a sip, then we’re going to put our shoes on and get out of here. Cam? Can you find her slippers?”

The other blonde spun on her heel and with a wince and soft apology flicked on the lights. Both women on the bed squinted over at her, then Rachel shuddered and tucked herself back up while Quinn rocked her. The smaller woman accepted the water with one more gentle prod, groaning and then coughing around her tiny mouthful.

“Got them, I think,” Cam announced after a few moments of fumbling around on the floor. She popped up over the other side of the bed holding two tiny gray knit boots.

“Yup, those are them. I say ‘slippers’ and most people think house shoes with cute, fuzzy, animals on them, but it’s Rachel Berry we’re talking about, Cammie. Regular moccasins or slip-ons are beneath her highnessness,” Quinn joked and bounced Rachel. The starlet tilted her head back and managed a watery smile and exhausted sounding giggle. 

Both Fabray women relaxed slightly at the sound. If Rachel was attempting laughter she was as close to death as she thought.

“Right then, where are your shoes Quinn?” Camille asked, eyeing the clothing strewn floor like it was a giant puzzle she had to figure out.

“I’ve got a pair of slip-ons by the door, far less chic, for I am but a lowly Government employee. No animals, though the Scooby ones were tempting.” Quinn smiled lopsidedly and shifted out from under Rachel before stooping and lifting her up onto her feet. 

Rachel re-attached herself, and Cam wondered if she would try and climb onto Quinn like the baby lemur’s they’d seen at the zoo that Abbey adored. She watched her younger sister cuddle her girlfriend and kiss the crown of her head.

“There are a bunch of sweatshirts hanging up in the closet, can you grab two?”

Quinn might have told Cam not to worry about helping, but she was unbelievably thankful now that she had ignored her and come to assist anyway. The older blonde dutifully threw open the door to Quinn’s walk in closet and yanked down the first two sweatshirts her hands came in contact with, bringing them over without a word. 

“I want the Bulldog one,” Rachel whispered and stretched out for the dark blue hoodie. Normally this would be where Quinn would tease the starlet about her love for Georgetown University attire, but she was too busy melting at the adorable look on the sleep mussed woman’s face.

“Okay, how about some pants too, instead of the shorts?” Quinn offered, eyeing the bared tan legs with no small amount of trepidation. Hospitals were cold first and foremost, but beyond that she knew Rachel would be mortified later if she were seen out in the tattered shorts that were barely clinging to her slim hips at the moment.

Rachel toyed with the hem of the shorts but nodded and Camille darted to the dresser, following Quinn’s pointing finger. Having lived with Quinn long enough to know certain things, she avoided the top and second drawer and dove for the third down, smirking to herself as she found it full of soft fabric pants. She yanked free a pair of sweat pants and held them up for approval. After handing them over she quickly told the couple she’d be out in the hall and made her exit, figuring she really didn’t need to be there to help Rachel change.

Quinn hummed a song intended to soothe the shivering woman leaning on her and helped Rachel pull the shorts off and yank the sweat pants up in their place, followed by her boots.

“All dressed and ready,” Quinn told her and looped her arm back around Rachel’s trim waist, guiding her towards the door.

“I want your iPod,” Rachel murmured, nose against Quinn’s shoulder as they shuffled their way forward. “Please?”

“No problem, we’ll grab it on our way out. You want headphones too? Or just for in the car?”

“Just in the car.”

“You got it.”

\---

When they got to the hospital Quinn made a quick executive decision and left the car running after she shoved it into park.

“Rachel, I’m going to run in really quick, you stay here in the heat. I’ll be right back to get you.”

Curled up against the door under a blanket, Rachel’s peered curiously over at her with glassy eyes. Quinn’s heart ached at the sight. She leaned over and carefully tucked the blanket more snugly around the shivering woman, gently kissed her warm forehead and made herself pull away. Before she left she turned the heat up, and the music too. 

Norah Jones flawless, soothing, voice filled the enclosed space, and Rachel closed her eyes again. 

Quinn moved quickly through the near empty parking lot, aiming for the glow of the hospital entrance. Senses on high alert as she scanned the darkness for suspicious characters - or worse, paparazzi. Once inside she did a cursory scan of the waiting room, then made a beeline for the front reception area. The woman behind the counter spared her a quick glance and a tight smile but other than that brief acknowledgement her attention stayed on the paperwork on her desk.

“Hi, I’m sorry to bother you,” Quinn sighed and stepped in closer, already frustrated. She hated hospitals, probably because she was in them so often, but also she’d noticed that the staff she normally encountered were often too busy to pay her mind. Unless she was bleeding or armed, that is. She could feel her temper simmering, waiting right at the surface, her worry for Rachel causing her usual tight grip on her emotions to slip. It took her a moment to count backwards from twenty, she didn’t want to snap at the people she needed to help her. “I have Rachel Berry out in the car and I’d like to make sure, or at least try, that the paparazzi don’t swarm her.”

“Ma’am, we take patient privacy very seriously,” the woman intoned, glancing up again. 

Quinn couldn’t help it, she bristled. “Look, I know it’s the late shift and you don’t want to be here, but I only need your undivided attention for maybe a minute. Probably less. I know I’m not bleeding all over the ER but a little courtesy would be nice.”

That got the clerks attention, she blinked up at Quinn then nodded. “You have my attention.”

“Rachel. Berry. Broadway diva whose face you see plastered all over the damn city? She’s out in my car and I think she might have strep throat. I want to get her in here and out of here as quickly as possible. That sounds demanding and very celebrity-ish and I don’t really care. The paparazzi get wind of it and it’ll be all over the magazines. I want to avoid that. It’s not a dire emergency, but as soon as she signs your stack of papers she’s a patient here, under your hospitals care. I expect her to be treated as such, I’m asking for discretion from your staff. Also, possibly, somewhere a little more secluded for us to wait? If someone asks for her autograph she’ll give it and if that happens it’s like blood in the water and the sharks will circle.”

“Are you her bodyguard?” 

“Something like that.” Quinn gestured at the clipboard at the side of the desk, “I can fill out most of the information, and I have her insurance card. If you’ll get her started in the computer system I’ll bring her in.”

“There’s another waiting area around the corner, there’s no one in there.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it and Rachel will too.”

As soon as she finished filling out Rachel’s admittance paperwork she left it in the registrar’s hands and rushed back out into the night. Praying that she could be lucky just this one time.

Rachel barely stirred when she opened the driver’s side door and turned off the car. The radio took a second longer to turn off and only when the music stopped did Rachel pick her head up off the window.

“Quinn?” The brunette sounded hoarse now, whether it was from crying or the inflammation in her throat, Quinn couldn’t tell. 

“Time to feel better, Superstar,” Quinn said. She hurried around the other side of the car and eased the passenger door open. Rachel sat up and reached for her, slumping down into Quinn’s waiting embrace before the rest of her body slid from the leather seat. Together, they walked back the way the blonde had come from, with the hood of the sweatshirt drawn up over Rachel to try and hide her face as much as possible - just in case.

But no flashing lights appeared and nobody inside gave them a second glance as Quinn ushered Rachel into the chair facing the registrar’s desk.

“Alright, Ms. Berry,” the woman said kindly. Her entire demeanor making a noticeable shift when she caught sight of the tiny diva’s face. Quinn suppressed a snort, but couldn’t hold back her eye-roll. “Could you sign here, please? We’ll get you right back to see the doctor.”

Rachel’s head bobbed slowly, she scrawled her well practiced autograph on the marked line, and then Quinn had her up and moving again. Only to be seated once more, this time in a highly uncomfortable hospital chair. Fortunately she was still able to ball up close enough to Quinn to rest her aching head on the other woman’s chest.

After several minutes of silence, Rachel couldn’t take it anymore and palmed Quinn’s bouncing thigh. “You’re shaking me,” she grumbled.

“Sorry.”

It took another ten minutes, then a male nurse appeared and smiled at them. “Ms. Berry?”

Both women looked up at him, Rachel trying to smile and Quinn too tired and annoyed at this point to even attempt one.

“If you’ll just follow me back,” he waited patiently for them to climb to their feet and quietly led the way back through the main waiting room, into the depths of the emergency ward.

Quinn kept a hold of Rachel’s bicep, she wanted to be holding her hand but Rachel had her arms crossed firmly across her stomach. Her protective instincts screamed at the gesture and she felt her nostrils flare and narrowed her eyes at anyone who looked their way for ‘too long’ in her books.

Finally they were placed into a room and Rachel was hesitantly crawling up onto the bed. Quinn pulled one of the small plastic chairs up close to the side and slipped her hand into Rachel’s grasp. Their nurse came back carrying a warmed blanket and wisely handed it off to the glaring blonde rather than drape it over Rachel himself. 

Rachel fidgeted with her free hand, picking at the blanket and staring at the various medical equipment laid out. 

“What if something’s really wrong?” She asked quietly, slouching down further on the inclined bed. “What if I can’t sing anymore?”

Another nurse came bustling into the room before Quinn could answer, so she chose instead to rub her thumb over the back of Rachel’s hand. Brown eyes stayed trained on her face, fresh tears rising in their depths. One slipped free and Quinn gently brushed it away, shaking her head slowly back and forth.

“Can you tell me what’s going on tonight, Rachel?” The older, blue scub wearing, woman asked as she wheeled her stool up to the other side of the bed.

“My throat hurts, really bad. There’s a lump and it was hard to breathe and swallow around it. It hurts.” Rachel repeated, eyeing the blood-pressure cuff warily. “I’m hot and sweaty, but cold too. My body is confused.”

“She’s been tired too, usually she’s bouncing around like a chipmunk on speed but the last couple of days she’s been exhausted.” Quinn added, squeezing the fingers in her palm when Rachel tensed through the exam. “I was thinking it might be strep.”

The nurse hmm-ed and peered down Rachel’s mouth with a light. “We’ll run a strep test on her, and a couple of others. I’ll be right back, we’re going to need to draw some blood.”

Rachel blanched and clamped down on Quinn’s fingers so suddenly the blonde jumped and winced at the cramp it caused.

“Rachel,” Quinn squeaked, then exhaled heavily when the pressure on her digits let up. “You’re afraid of needles?”

“No, I just - I don’t like having my blood drawn,” Rachel confessed, rolling her head in Quinn’s direction. 

“Look at me, don’t look at your arm.”

When the nurse returned with three small tubes, rubber tubing, and a needle, Quinn could feel Rachel’s body tense as well as see it. The brunette went completely rigid and her breathing became shallow.

“Rach, look at me.”

“Okay, just a small pinch,” the nurse promised.

Rachel’s eyes went wide and a tear slipped free from the corner, but she did as asked, staring hard at Quinn. The blonde felt the corner of her lip twitch upwards as she sat still and let Rachel stare as deeply into her eyes as she wanted. It could be slightly unnerving - the intensity in which Rachel would look at her sometimes. Almost as though Rachel was reading her soul. She sighed heavily and hoped that everything she was silently trying to say translated in the soft expression she wore.

It was over before the diva realized and then she quickly, and unhappily, remembered why it was that she hated throat swabs. The lack of a gag-reflex did not make the procedure any more comfortable or lessen the burn at the back of her throat.

“Q, I think perhaps I may hate that more than the blood,” she grumbled, petulantly glowering as the nurse stepped back out of the room. 

Wisely, Quinn smothered her chuckle and settled on a smile instead. “You were so brave, Rach. I’m proud of you.”

“I hear that tone and I do not appreciate it. If you next offer me a lollipop I may be forced to take drastic measure in retaliation.”

“Drastic measures?” The blonde arched an eyebrow playfully and brushed some hair back from Rachel’s face.

“I’m not above withholding intercourse from you.”

“I applaud the fact that you can say ‘intercourse’ with a straight face.” Quinn grinned and turned her attention to the ceiling to avoid the murderous look she was being given. “You and your big words.”

“Don’t make fun of me!”

Hearing the actual distress in Rachel’s voice, however, brought her playful mood crashing back down. “I’m just teasing. I love when you use your big words. It’s cute.”

“I don’t feel good and I’m sorry that you had to wake up and take care of me,” Rachel whimpered, hands striking the bed.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about that. I love being here for you and that you let me take care of you.” She recaptured Rachel’s fist and un-tucked it so she could tangle their fingers. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have teased you.”

The diva sniffed and wiggled her fingers, weaving them more tightly with Quinn’s. “We never get a dull moment do we?”

Quinn smiled lopsidedly, shrugged one shoulder, and rolled her eyes good naturedly. 

“Alright ladies, I won the bet. You don’t have strep.” The nurse announced as she came back into the room holding a couple of slips of paper and wearing a broad smile.

“It’s not strep?” 

“There were bets being placed?”

“It’s mono.”


	6. Chapter 6

Rachel was loopy and half-asleep by the time they made it back to Quinn’s apartment. The nurse had given her something for the pain in her throat and it worked like a charm. It also hit Rachel, who was a lightweight, like a sledgehammer. Quinn herself was dragging, feeling the effects of yet another sleepless night. She’d reached her limit, emotionally and physically, after being at work all day and her previous night of restless sleep, she had nothing left to give. Everything had piled up and suddenly the weight of it all was crushing her. She blinked slowly, grumbled, and wiped at her eyes to try and clear the gummy feeling. Under her arm Rachel laughed at something funny only to her and stumbled towards the door with her hand outstretched.

Sighing for the millionth time that night, Quinn gripped the smaller woman’s hips and tugged her back upright before she could completely tip over. Rachel snorted, trying in vain to stop her drug-induced laughter, and turned herself back into Quinn, her nose bumping gently against the blondes collarbone.

“Quinn?” She giggled and rocked back on her heels. “Words are funny.”

Rolling her eyes skyward, Quinn huffed and tried to reach around the delirious diva for the door knob. “What words?”

“All of them!”

There was nothing she could really do but nod along with Rachel’s special brand of crazy. All of her 'Berryisms' had been amplified with the help of the drugs swimming through her system. She’d become a revolving door of emotion and drama. One minute she was drawing hearts on the fogged window of Quinn’s car, the next she was sobbing when she realized she couldn’t sing along with the songs playing from the iPod - or at all. 

Quinn patted wearily at her pockets, looking for her keys. Before she could finish yanking them out of her pocket Rachel suddenly sobered and her brown eyes welled up with tears.

“You’re mad,” she said softly, bowing her head, and wrapping her arms around herself. It was a pose too painfully familiar to the blonde, whose heart broke at the sight. 

“Rachel,” she groaned and immediately abandoned her pocket fishing expedition. She lifted Rachel’s chin gently and tenderly brushed back dark locks when teary eyes met her face. “I’m not mad, just tired. Really tired. I now completely understand the phrase 'bone weary'. All I want right now is to crawl into bed for a few hours.”

“With me?” Rachel asked hopefully. Her chin quivered against Quinn’s fingertips and her delicate fingers curled around Quinn’s forearm, holding tight. 

“Who else? Only ever you.”

That seemed to mollify the brunette, her tears all but vanished in an instant and she was beaming a watery version of her bright Broadway smile up at her. “Cuddles?”

“Of course. You expect me to get any sleep without cuddling you? Rach, you’re my very favorite cuddle buddy.”

“Cuddle is a funny word,” Rachel said very seriously and turned back to the door. 

Before she could start digging into her pockets again the door flew open, revealing a pj clad Camille Fabray. Rachel swayed towards the older blonde and a fresh wave of giggles overtook her.

“Hey lookit! Quinn, there’s two of you!”

Cam’s eyebrow arched up to her hairline as she scrutinized her sister’s girlfriend. Who at this point was limply waving one hand and pointing with the other, face lit up with childlike delight. “Uh, I think you have the wrong apartment.” 

Meeting Cam’s curious look over the top of Rachel’s head Quinn could only shrug haplessly, curl her fingers over Rachel’s hip bones, and nudge her into the apartment.

“Nuh-uh, Quinn lives here. I recognize the door ‘cause we totally had se-”

Quinn clamped her hand over Rachel’s mouth before she could finish that sentence, you know the one that Cam definitely didn’t want to hear, and smiled apologetically. 

“Is she drunk?” Camille asked bluntly, scrambling to get out of the way as Rachel and Quinn tumbled into the apartment.

“Oh yeah,” Quinn growled and rolled her eyes. “It’s the newest thing in modern medicine. Shots of Patron and Jaeger bombs to manage pain. The cancer ward is totally wild. Cam, really? They gave her some excellent medication at the hospital.”

“Yes, I see that,” the other blonde said and closed the door behind them. “But she’s really, uh, happy?”

“It’s supposed to knock her out, but I think she’s out stubborning it. Definitely not feeling pain right now though.”

“Quinn!” Rachel yelped from behind Quinn’s palm.

“Shh,” Quinn hissed. “Don’t want to wake up Abbey.”

“Oh, Abbey is still sleeping? Isn’t it morning though?”

“It is, but it’s early morning, Superstar. Scooter’s still asleep, and we want her to get a full night. Growing kids need their sleepy time even more than we do, right?”

Rachel nodded, eyes wide and pupils completely blown. Quinn slowly pulled her hand away from Rachel’s mouth before the brunette could lick it... again. “Sleep is essential for children. That’s when they get all their growth hormone so they don’t end up short like me.”

Cam blinked and covered her own mouth briefly, to hide the growing smirk. “Quinn, I take it you’re not going in to work today?”

“Does it look like I am?” Quinn snapped then sagged. “Sorry. I’m sorry. No, I’ve got some sick leave saved, I’ll call Ryan and my boss in a couple of hours. Heaven forbid they not get a full night.”

“I’ll take Rachel back to your room, give you the second you need. Don’t argue. I bet Ms. Berry here would like a cup of water?”

“My Dads give me water when I’m sad,” Rachel informed her. “But I’m not sad right now. At least I don’t think I am. Should I be sad?” She eyed both blondes, sable eyebrows pulling together as she frowned in contemplation.

“Nope, you’re perfect,” Camille assured her and started pulling the small woman back towards Quinn’s bedroom without another glance at the tired agent. She recognized the signs of a full Fabray meltdown in her sister’s features and figured a little time to get control of herself would be appreciated. It wasn’t that Quinn was frustrated with Rachel, Camille saw that easily enough. Her baby sister was exhausted and emotional, and just like any toddler, Fabray’s were prone to fussy fits when they got that way. After so many years being trained to ‘suck it up’ or ‘dry it up’ when they were upset it became nearly impossible for them to handle things. Emotions were bottled until the pressure got to be too much. On top of it, Quinn always had a horrible temper. She was like a damn volcano. Cam didn’t think she’d let herself explode in front of Rachel, but it was easy enough to give her a moment to collect herself. 

Even if having her arms full of Rachel was awkward.

She sighed and tightened her arm around the petite woman’s waist, practically holding her upright as they staggered down the hallway. Rachel was patting at her arm softly, looking around the hallway as though she’d never seen it before.

“You have a lovely home,” she commented and lurched into the wall with a thump.

“Thank you?” Cam swallowed back her laughter and opened the bedroom door, never happier to see a bed in her whole life. Her burden straightened at the sight as well and unexpectedly lunged forward, dragging a quietly protesting Cam with her. The crashed onto the tall bed in a heap, Rachel giggling and Camille squawking indignantly. 

“Quinn,” Rachel snickered and tugged at the wrong Fabray’s arms where they were braced on either side of her ribs, yanking the barely gained support out from under Cam. The blonde squealed again and landed face first into Rachel’s chest, flailing and squirming as she tried to extract herself from the brunette. Deceptively strong arms closed around her, pulling her in closer than she ever wanted to be. To her horror Rachel began to... cuddle her.

“Not Quinn, not Quinn!” she cried in despair. Rachel had suddenly grown four other arms, it was the only explanation she had for how she came to be so thoroughly trapped and entangled. “Rachel, Camille. Cam, not Quinn! The other Fabray!”

“Wow,” a quiet voice observed from the hallway. “Ulterior motives, Cam? Do I need to leave and come back later so you can continue your illicit affair?”

“Help!” she pleaded, legs off the bed but upper body still encased in a surprisingly vice-like grip.

“I kind of want to take a picture,” Quinn quipped.

“Quinn!”

It took the two sisters a good five minutes to get Cam free and Rachel settled. Quinn struggling with laughter the entire time while Camille glared at her and battled a fearsome blush. 

“I saw the blankets on the couch, by the way,” Quinn whispered and smoothed Rachel’s hair back from her drooping eyelids. 

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I figured you two would be back eventually and I couldn’t go back to sleep. She’s kind of all over the place, isn’t she?”

“She’s the epitome of a lightweight.”

“This is all your fault, Quinn,” Rachel grumped and turned her head away from her girlfriend’s touch.

Quinn deflated at the accusation and backed away from the bed. “I’m sorry, Rachel.”

“Hey, wait.” Cam frowned down at the irritable starlet and reached back for her sister’s hand. “How is it Quinn’s fault?”

“She had mono and now I have mono,” the brunette whined and glared hotly around Cam.

“When did you have mono?” Utterly confused at this new behavior and instantly protective of her sister, the eldest Fabray turned for an answer.

“High School,” Quinn said, looking so dejected it physically pained Camille. She seemed to shrink before her, arms tucking in closer to her body and shoulders sloping. Real hurt flashed deep in her down-turned eyes.

“You can’t have given it to her now though. Isn’t that shit only contagious for so long?”

“I don’t know, I’m not a doctor. I think I can’t get it again. She probably got it from sharing drinks with people. She’s just tired and doesn’t feel good.” The agent drew her fingers over the comforter at the foot of the bed. “I’m going to go get her some extra blankets.”

“Quinn?” Rachel whimpered and sat up, goggle eyed and obviously disconcerted. She stretched out a hand towards her wounded girlfriend pleadingly.

“I’ll go,” Cam offered and bumped her hip into Quinn as she passed her.

When she came back, arms loaded with the blankets she’d used earlier on the couch, Quinn was back up on the bed. Rachel seemed to have had yet another change of heart and was plastered up against Quinn, sniffling quietly. 

“I’m sorry,” she was saying, hands full of Quinn’s sweatshirt collar. “I didn’t mean it.”

“I know, you just need to sleep.”

“Please don’t go. I promise I didn’t - I didn’t cheat, Quinn. And I’ll never share my water with anyone ever again.”

Cam dropped the blankets on the foot of the bed and tapped Quinn’s ankle gently. Her sister merely nodded, never breaking her soft shushing.

The older Fabray tiptoed her way back out and closed the door behind her.

\---

Much later into the night, Quinn lay on her back staring up at the ceiling. Sleep eluded her, despite how tired she felt. Beside her, Rachel too was laying on her back, and Quinn was sure she’d succumbed to her painkiller cocktail and passed out. Her breathing was deep and even, if somewhat wet sounding. She blamed the humidifier for that, hoping it was the cause and not some sort of phlegmy obstruction.

“Quinn?”

Apparently she was wrong about the other bed occupant being asleep.

“Yeah?” she asked cautiously, not sure at this point what mood Rachel would be in. Would it be silly, angry, scared, or weepy Rachel she faced this time?

“... Hello!”

Oh God, giddy Rachel. She sighed and decided against moving at all, not wanting to encourage her spastic girlfriend. She loved her dearly, she really did, but she was so tired - they both needed to sleep. Or at least lie there silently to promote some form of rest.

“Uh, hi?”

Silence fell once again. Quinn risked a glance out of the corner of her eye, saw the outline of the other woman in the gray gloom of predawn and continued with her plan to stay deathly still. She can’t see you if you don’t move!

“Quinn?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’ve been drugged.”

Quinn turned her head to study Rachel more fully. She was staring upwards, lost off in some drug induced Berry wonderland. Her hands traced the air above her in lazy patterns, following designs only she could see.

“Yup, you’re definitely that,” she chuckled and shook her head. Damn her. Doped out of her mind Rachel Berry was still the most adorable thing she’d ever seen.

“It’s fun,” Rachel decided and giggled, now intensely examining her wiggling fingers.

“That’s good. You know what else is fun? Sleep.” More blessed quiet, Quinn desperately hoped this time it would stick. She closed her eyes and willed the sandman to hurry his stupid ass up. Hoping that if she could fall asleep, Rachel would follow.

“Quinn?”

Damn it, her luck really did suck. “Yes, Rachel?”

“Is it my birthday?”

Stubbornly keeping her eyes closed she frowned and vowed to never let Rachel take medication from unknown nurses ever again. “Nope, not for a couple of months. Thinking of birthday presents you want already?”

Rachel didn’t answer for a long time, so Quinn peeked open one eye and blearily squinted over at her girlfriend. She smiled when she saw that Rachel’s eyes had finally closed.

“Quinn?”

She sighed hard through her nose and wondered briefly if this was an appropriate moment to laugh. Or maybe cry. “Yes, yup, I’m Quinn.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Rachel Berry.”

Laughter bubbled up and spilled past her lips. She suddenly wished she had her phone handy to record this exchange. Rachel would be horrified when she sobered up enough to understand what she’d been like. All she could think about was Stewie Griffin in the Family Guy episode where he loved Lois. Mum, mum, mum, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Lois, Lois, Lois...

“Quinn?”

There was no winning this and at this point no sleep to be had. Unless she knocked herself out. Perhaps if she hit her head hard enough on her pillow? 

“Can we have sex?”

Clearly God hated her. She groaned, lifted her head and let it fall back onto the pillow, silently cursing everything and everyone she could think of to blame. “Rachel, normally the answer would be yes. In fact, if I weren’t so nice a person I’d probably say yes anyway. But my sister and niece are sharing a wall with us and you’re incapable of being quiet when you aren’t high on painkillers. At this point I’m thinking the whole building would hear you. Plus? You’re on painkillers.”

“But...” Rachel pouted and she pouted hard. Her lower lip trembled and her eyes glazed over with moisture. It was normally irresistible, but with her being sick on top of it – well it wasn’t fair at all.

Quinn dragged her palms over her face and barked a short laugh. Finding a way out of this without hurting Rachel’s feelings and sending her into another bought of hysterical crying would take tact - and some serious patience. Neither of which she was blessed with an overabundance of. She was so tired. All she wanted was blessed sleep, at least an hour, and for Rachel to rest so she could feel better. “Tell you what, I’ll make you a deal. You like deals. If you can get over here, on top of me, we’ll have sex.”

“Promise?” 

“Yup, I promise.” The blonde trained her eyes up on the ceiling and tried to mentally prepare for what was about to happen. 

“Deal.” Rachel had her determined face on as she turned slightly and scrutinized Quinn’s prone position in the dark. She began to struggle, her small body contorting as she tried to twist and then throw herself over. The drugs made her dizzy and more than a little nauseous. It felt a bit like being drunk… really drunk. Her coordination was almost completely shot. She paused after a couple tries and Quinn could practically hear the wheels turning inside her devious diva mind. 

A tiny tan hand stretched over, moving so slow that Quinn watched its progress as it crossed her body and lifted an eyebrow. Was this supposed to be sneaky? Rachel clenched a handful of t-shirt and blanket at Quinn’s side and tugged. She grunted with effort as her body shifted, and for a second Quinn was afraid she might have actually found a way to maneuver herself into the desired position. Fortunately, Rachel soon abandoned that tactic after a couple of timid tries and one particularly strenuous attempt. She flopped dramatically onto her back, full lips pursed in an almighty pout.

“I can’t do it.”

The last shred of Quinn’s restraint fell away and she dissolved into exhausted laughter, only barely managing to muffle it with her pillow at the last second.


	7. Chapter 7

A dull crash and soft squeak yanked Quinn up out of her semi-coma. She blinked her eyes open with a groan and wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth. It was still gloomy in her room, an odd sort of blue-grey that told her it was raining out. Lightning briefly illuminated the room in a brighter flash, followed by the low rumble of thunder overhead. She guessed she’d only been asleep for little over a half hour. One full night of sleep. Just one, she thought wistfully with another unhappy groan. Her brow furrowed further when she realized the circle of her arms was empty.

Rolling onto her back, she lifted her head and squinted in the direction of the clamour that had disturbed her sleep.

Another burst of lightning revealed Rachel standing in the closet, the door wide open but lights still off, swaying gently but otherwise immobile. 

She couldn’t help herself.

“Did you find Narnia yet?”

“Someone moved the bathroom!” Rachel cried in alarm. The brunette attempted to look over her shoulder and ended up nearly falling over as her body twisted with her. 

Snickering, despite the rude awakening and the ache that seemed to permeate her bones, Quinn rolled out of her bed and stumbled over to her confused girlfriend. “Silly baby,” she cooed and wrapped an arm around Rachel’s waist. “Come on, let’s see if we can find where the gremlins took the bathroom.”

“Gremlins?” Rachel asked, accepting Quinn as a crutch and groggily leaning her weight into Quinn’s shoulder.

“Mischievous little things,” Quinn explained and sloppily steered them towards the master bath. “They like to pull pranks on tired divas.”

“Diva is the female version of a hustler,” Rachel mumbled under her breath. The agent grinned down at the adorable woman clinging to her and heaved them the last steps into the bathroom. They both shrank back from the light when Quinn thumbed the switch, Rachel shook her head and pulled away from Quinn’s support. “I don’t like pranks.”

Another sound, quiet but distinct, brushed Quinn’s ears, she tilted her head and frowned. “Hey, baby, I need to go check on something. You got everything under control here?”

“Quinn! I don - I do not need assistance relieving myself.”

“I’ll be right back for you,” Quinn promised, smiling lopsidedly as she helped a struggling Rachel push down her clothing. “Yell if you need me.”

She closed the door partially behind her, just in case Rachel managed to collapse in her dizzy state, and headed towards the other bathroom. The sounds were still coming from behind the closed door.

After dealing with morning sickness Quinn instantly recognized the sounds of someone retching - but thankfully no longer had sympathy problems associated because of it.

“Cam?” she called lightly and rapped on the door before she pushed it open. Camille was on the floor, kneeling and paying tribute to the porcelain god. Quinn didn’t hesitate, she stepped fully into the smaller bathroom and pulled her sister’s long blonde hair back. “Cammie.”

“I’m fine,” Cam grumbled and her back tensed right before she heaved again. Sighing, Quinn leaned into the nearby counter and freed a hand to rub up and down Cam’s back. She wondered what it would have been like to have had someone to hold her hair back when she’d been sick. Even Mercedes, as kind as she’d been, had steered clear of hair duty. Either out of fear of Quinn’s baby hormone driven emotions or the act itself. Quinn hadn’t asked.

When Cam finished and sat back the younger blonde released her hair and quickly wet a wash cloth. Cam took it and wiped at her mouth sheepishly, avoiding looking at Quinn for as long as possible.

“I think it’s time you and I had a talk,” Quinn told her and ran a hand through her own sleep tousled hair. “I’m moving Rachel to the couch. Can you start some coffee? I’m going to need it.”

“Yeah,” Cam cleared her throat and struggled to her feet. “Will Rachel want tea?”

“Probably, but I don’t know if she’ll drink it. She likes that lemon stuff, I don’t actually know what it’s called, it smells lemony though.”

“Okay.”

Quinn sighed and returned to her bedroom, rubbing at her eyes. Rachel was shuffling out of the bathroom like a zombie, she lurched to a halt at the foot of the bed and stared at it almost quizzically with her lip caught in her teeth.

“It’s called a bed,” Quinn told her helpfully. She slipped her arms around Rachel’s midriff, pulled her back solidly, and nuzzled against silky raven locks. “How are you feeling?”

Rachel’s eyes closed and she cocked her head to give Quinn more access to her neck. Her warm lips felt nice against her skin. “Like my body is humming. Does that make sense? I’m all tingly and sleepy and I don’t like it.”

“Hmm, it’s probably the medication. How about we go into the living room and get you a cup of that herbal tea crap you like and I’ll put on a movie for you?”

“It’s not crap, Q,” Rachel grumbled, and squirmed her way back further into the heat of Quinn’s body. “Captain Jack?”

Quinn ran that through a quick ‘Berry translation’ and shook her head, amused. “You want to watch Pirates of the Caribbean?”

“Can we have a marathon?”

“You are so cute. Yes, a marathon sounds perfect,” Quinn agreed and waddled them out into the living room, never releasing her hold around the diva’s waist. She smiled at Camille, who said nothing about their tangled embrace, only smiled back. Once Rachel was deposited on the couch she scrambled to get her comfortable, propping her up on a pillow from her bed and cocooning her in blankets. Cam came in and set a steaming mug of tea on the coffee table and smoothed Rachel’s bangs back while Quinn puttered with the dvd player. Soon the familiar sounds of “Curse of the Black Pearl” filled the room. Rachel smiled loopily and curled on her side, glassy eyes tracking the screen.

“Wait, where’s the miniature barking mop-head?”

“Cosmo?” Cam asked, grinning down at the dark haired woman glaring around the room. “He’s in with Abbey, don’t worry he won’t leave her side. You’re safe.”

“That’s good,” Rachel sighed and snuggled back down.

“Alright, Superstar, I’m stepping outside for a minute,” Quinn murmured, perching on the side of the couch, and joined Cam in stroking Rachel’s hair. 

“Hurry or you’ll miss it,” Rachel warned. 

“I will,” Quinn bent and softly kissed Rachel’s temple, then stood and jerked her head towards the patio door. 

“You two are sort of adorable,” Cam said as soon as the slider closed behind them.

“Sort of?” Quinn asked and accepted the mug of coffee offered to her. “Please, Hollywood Rom-Com’s have nothing on us.” She stepped up to the balcony railing and looked out over the rain washed city, taking in a deep lungful of her favorite smell. There was something about wet blacktop, mixing in with everything else and that humid taste on the tip of her tongue. She’d adjusted to some of the less savory scents of the city early on when she’d moved to New York, but the rain, it always brought something different. Unique. And Quinn loved it.

“You always did like the rain,” Cam commented, watching her sister bask in the downpour with an incredulous shake of her head. “Weirdo.”

“It’s probably a good thing now, considering how much we get here. It smells ‘new’, Cam. That’s the only way I know to describe it. Not so much how things in the rain smell, but the rain itself, washing away everything so we can start over.”

Cam giggled and collapsed into a lawn chair, absently toying with the mug in her own hand. “I haven’t said anything, but I’m also impressed with your apartment, little sister. You even rate a balcony.”

Quinn shrugged and sipped at her coffee. “It works. But the pleasantries can wait - don’t think I don’t recognize a stalling tactic when I see one, Cammie. FBI, remember? And a psych major. You aren’t getting away with anything anymore.” She dropped into the chair opposite her sister and balanced her elbows on her knees.

“Good to know, Sherlock,” Cam quipped, eyeing her pensively. “So what have you deduced, detective?”

“You’re pregnant,” Quinn stated bluntly. “Somehow you thought I wouldn’t notice.”

“Honestly? I was hoping you’d be too distracted to pay attention.”

“Cam...”

Her older sister wiped the back of her hand over her mouth and barked a humorless laugh, looking up to try and keep her tears from spilling. “It’s why Sean and I are - it’s why I’m here.”

Quinn reached out and captured Cam’s hand, gripped it tightly in both of hers. “Tell me.”

“W - we weren’t trying, haven’t been for awhile after... I - I lost two. Miscarried. It was, Quinn, I can’t explain to you what it was - how much it hurt.” Cam sniffled ineffectually, the first wave of tears had already escaped and fresh ones rushed to join them. Her hands shook around her cup as she lifted it to her lips, they were trembling so badly that she had to pause and take a breath before she could take another drink without scalding herself.

“I’ve had a baby,” Quinn said quietly, using her free hand to brush away her bangs. “I gave her up. I think I can kind of understand what you’re talking about.”

“No,” Camille shook her head adamantly. “No, Quinn. Your baby is alive, she’s alive and warm and goes to school and brings home hand painted pictures for her mother. She laughs and cries and begs for ice cream and to be pushed higher on the swings.”

A new kind of pain swept through Quinn, intensified by her lack of sleep. She closed her eyes tightly against her sister’s words. She couldn’t escape the images that danced behind her clenched eyelids. Fleeting pictures of a little blonde haired, hazel eyed, child beaming happily up at Shelby Corcoran. How she’d laugh and twirl in pretty dresses, proudly handing her mother a picture with her tiny hand prints on it. Cam hadn’t meant it to hurt, but it did, it hit her right where she was most vulnerable.

“When we found out,” Cam continued, not blind to the harm she’d done Quinn but unable to take it back now. “We were shocked, to say the least. It had taken us so long to get pregnant with Abbey and the other two. I was even on the pill still. Then it all fell apart. Sean didn’t, he didn’t want me to keep it because of the risk and he said he couldn’t handle losing another one. Going through it all again. Sometimes I didn’t think I could either but I can’t… Quinn, I just can’t. We kept arguing, so I ran. I know he’s scared and I am too, but it feels different this time. I know it’s different this time. I have to believe it, Sean couldn’t.”

Quinn sucked in a huge breath and trampled down her emotions in regards to her own daughter. She shook her head and wiped her eyes with shaking fingers. “Whatever you need, for however long, I’m here.”

Cam surged forward and grabbed her sister in a rough, awkward hug. “I’m sorry Quinn, I know I hurt you, but thank you. Thank you for being the better of us. I love you so much, little sister.”

“I love you too,” Quinn whispered. She carefully pulled herself free of the embrace and smiled soggily. “So, more tea? I think my coffee’s cold.”

Can nodded and they laughed and cleared their faces of any remnants of tears. Quinn shyly ducked her head and gestured towards Cam’s stomach.

“Can I?”

“You know you can’t feel anything right now?” Cam asked but took Quinn’s hand in hers and placed it against her abdomen.

“I remember,” Quinn said, smiling softly. “I just want to touch my niece or nephew.”

Her hand stayed there, pressing gently for a few moments before she drew back and stood up. “I should go back in before Rachel decides she needs to come find me. Or worse, she goes exploring.”

“Exploring?” Cam asked, standing as well.

“She couldn’t find the bathroom this morning, and I told her the gremlins must have moved it. Now that I think about it that was probably a mistake because I can see her stumbling into your room and thinking Cosmo is a gremlin. Can you imagine the screaming?”

The older blonde giggled and followed her sister back into the warmth of the apartment. “Poor Cosmo.”

“Poor me,” Quinn said. “I’m the one who’d have to save the dog or try and coax Rachel out from under the bed.”

Together they tiptoed up to the couch and peered over the back to study the barely conscious brunette resting there.

“Why is it that I can totally see her hiding under the bed?” Cam asked, smirking over at Quinn who couldn’t pry her gaze off of her drugged girlfriend. 

“Probably because she would,” she whispered back.

“I can hear you,” Rachel grumped sleepily at the grinning blondes. “It only happened that one time and only because I thought Ryan was a rapist.”

Cam quirked an eyebrow curiously. “Now that sounds like a story!”

“I’ll tell you later,” Quinn said and sat down on the couch alongside Rachel, a fresh cup of coffee in hand.

“You’ve been crying,” Rachel observed, one tan hand freeing itself from under her nest of blankets to tenderly cup Quinn’s cheek. Quinn kissed her palm and smiled down at her bleary eyed diva.

“It’s all right, did I miss the good parts?”

“The whole movie is ‘good parts’,” the tiny woman sniffed. “Why were you crying?”

“Because I missed you?” 

Rachel eyed her incredulously, but rolled her eyes and huffed after a few seconds of a staring contest. She figured her considerable charms weren’t going to work as well while she was under the influence and decided to surrender until the drugs wore off a bit more. Wait for the opportune moment, indeed. “Are you going to watch the marathon with me now?”

“The cuteness is going to kill me,” Cam commented from the kitchen.

Quinn glared playfully over her shoulder and set her coffee down next to Rachel’s empty cup of tea. “Only if you let me hold you during the scary parts.”

Rachel giggled and slid forward lazily, pushing into Quinn until the agent tumbled ungracefully off the edge of the sofa and onto the floor. “There are no scary parts! But I want you to cuddle me anyway.”

“Mommy?” Abbey’s voice chirped from down the hall. “Mommy!”

“You’re being beckoned,” Quinn snickered from the floor. Now that she was there, laying flat on her back and staring at the ceiling, her exhaustion fell over her like a fuzzy blanket. She watched as Rachel’s hand appeared and dragged along the floor, searching for her. Tan fingers hit Quinn’s cheek and then patted her face. 

“Why are you on the floor?”

“You pushed me!” Quinn whined and playfully bit one of Rachel’s fingers as it wandered her face a little too close to her mouth.

“Ow!” the diva yelped, then her face peeked over the side of the couch. Brown eyes narrowed down at her before dark hair slipped silkily over her face and obscured the view. “I’m up here. Come up here.”

“Aunt Q?” Abbey said, sounding much closer than before. Quinn lifted her head off the carpet and saw her niece standing by her feet, Cosmo dangling from her arms, head tilted to the side. She laughed at her crazy aunt, dropped the dog, and hopped up onto the end of the couch. “What are you doing?”

“Rachel’s a meanie and pushed me on the floor, but it’s comfy,” Quinn explained. She squeaked and turned her face as Cosmo pounced on her, puffing warm doggy breath on her as he tried to lick every inch of skin he could get to.

Abbey frowned over at the bundled brunette but crawled her way over to snuggle down into Rachel’s open arms anyway. “Rachel’s not mean.”

“Abbey Lynn, you leave them alone. Rachel doesn’t feel good, baby.” Cam called from the kitchen. “Come over here and eat your breakfast, then we’ll get dressed and go see the museum.”

“The museum?” Abbey perked up and broke Rachel’s loose hold on her to peek over the back of the couch at her mother. “The one with the dinosaurs?”

“Yup, the big museum with the dinosaurs,” Cam confirmed. She grinned as her little girl bounced off the couch and came racing towards her for a hug. “So eat your breakfast, Scooter. We have a big day ahead of us.”

“Quinn Fabray, come up here this instant,” Rachel growled and tugged at the sleeve of Quinn’s t-shirt. “I’m cold.”

“How can you be cold, you look like a mummy in all those blankets,” Quinn griped but did as asked, gently nudging Cosmo out of the way and dragging herself over Rachel’s limp body to squeeze herself down between the smaller woman and the back of the couch.

“I just am,” Rachel snipped petulantly. She reached behind her, pulled the blonde’s arm around her and wiggled back into the cradle of Quinn’s hips.

Not that Quinn was about to complain, quite the opposite, she sighed happily and nestled in closer to her girlfriend, utterly content. Rachel’s soft hair felt cool against her face and it smelled like mint, which she found wildly soothing. She inhaled the fragrance deeply and tightened her grip around Rachel briefly. “‘Ello beasty,” she purred in her best English accent and felt Rachel shake with quiet laughter.

“I’m not the kraken!” Rachel barked and thread her fingers into Quinn’s against her stomach. 

“Would ‘poppet’ be better?”

“I like ‘love’, can I be that one?” the heavy-lidded brunette asked timidly, toying with their entwined fingers.

“Yes and always,” Quinn easily agreed and kissed the crook of her neck sweetly.

“Hey lovebirds,” Camille interrupted, entering the living room and standing in front of the tv so they had to look at her. Both women on the couch smirked up at her drowsily. “Scooter and I are off on an adventure. I figured you two might like the chance to nap without her buzzing around you.”

“Who’s napping? Babies nap,” Rachel said, scrunching her nose up at the idea. Quinn shook her head and kissed Rachel’s ear. “I don’t want to nap, we’re having a movie marathon.”

“Shh, we’re going to have a marathon, Superstar, don’t worry.” Quinn soothed and Rachel’s shoulders relaxed, mollified. She turned her attention back up to Cam. “Have fun, do you know how to get there?”

“I have detailed directions, and a smart phone.” Cam smirked and wiggled her iPhone. “I’m pretty sure that should make it impossible to get lost.”

“It’s New York City, sis,” Quinn warned but continued to smile. “People who live here get lost.”

“It was one time,” Rachel hissed. “I knew I shouldn’t have admitted that.”

“Yet another story you’ll have to tell me,” Cam laughed. She faltered for a second but eventually came all the way forward and stooped to brush back Rachel’s hair and then Quinn’s with a fond sort of smile. “You two enjoy your marathon, we’ll be back later. Quinn? I don’t suppose you have a spare key I can borrow?”

“Just take my keys,” Quinn jerked her head back in the direction of the entry way. “They’re in the bowl by the door.”

“Thanks,” Cam said and surprised both Quinn and Rachel (and possibly herself) when she lightly dropped a kiss on both their cheeks. She blushed as she straightened back up but shrugged off both their confused glances. “Mommy instincts, no avoiding them, you’re all my munchkins now.”

While Quinn was flattered to hear that childhood nickname again she groaned when she felt Rachel tense in her arms once again.

“I’m not a munchkin!” she cried indignantly.

“No, of course you’re not,” Quinn sighed and silently begged Camille to leave it. She could see the impish glint in her older sister’s eyes and didn’t want to have to calm a diva rant. They were both too tired for that.

Abbey came trotting back into the room and sloppily copied her mothers earlier sentiments with kisses to both Rachel and Quinn’s cheeks. “Bye Aunt Q, bye Rachel, Cosmo’s going to stay here and keep you safe.” She bent down, retrieved the wiggling ball of fur and deposited him at the end of the couch. Rachel’s brown eyes went wide as she stared down her body at the triumphant looking Cosmo. He started to try and creep towards them but Quinn quickly freed her hand from her girlfriends and pressed him back gently.

“Trust me, little dude, you’re going to want to stay there.”

Cam pursed her lips together and took Abbey’s hand. “Come on sweetie, we’re off.”

“Museum time!” Abbey cheered and dragged her mother off, rambling away with dinosaur facts and asking about hotdogs and souvenirs. 

The apartment fell into quiet shortly after the door closed, disrupted only by the sounds of the television. As the movie drew to a close, Rachel piped up.

“Quinn?”

Quinn grunted, half asleep behind the brunette.

“Can we watch your movies?”

“These are my movies,” the blonde replied, eyebrows knitting together. Reluctantly, she shifted up and blinked her eyes so she could more clearly see the woman half under her. “I thought you wanted to watch a marathon?”

“I changed my mind, I want to watch what you watch when you’re sick.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Quinn said hesitantly. When she was sick she indulged in horror movies. Not gore fests for the most part, but good thrillers with the occasional flash of bright red blood. She had no explanation for it really, just that when she didn’t feel good she liked to curl up on her couch and scare herself silly. Though at this point, her horror movie collection was no longer frightening, they were more like good action flicks with scarier villains. Rachel knew all of that and generally expressed disgust with the genre, stating that it was sub-par to the magic of musicals and all around a disturbing commentary on the things people now called ‘entertainment’. Quinn’s only argument was Sweeney Todd, which was horrific and a musical. Rachel couldn’t argue with that one.

“Please, Quinnie?”

“Ugh, Rachel,” Quinn scowled at the unfortunate nickname and burrowed deeper into the warm skin of Rachel’s neck trying to think of a way out of the suggestion. “You’ll be scared.”

“I don’t care.”

“Fine,” the blonde huffed and untangled herself from the starlet. She crawled to her tv on her hands and knees and pried loose the first horror title she saw.

She removed the Pirates of the Caribbean disk and winced as she inserted the Descent disk in it’s place. Of all the movies for her to randomly grab it had to be that one. So much for easing Rachel in to the mayhem, she sighed.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said aloud, voicing her misgivings as she retook her place behind Rachel.

It didn’t take long for Rachel to be sitting up, mostly in Quinn’s lap. The blonde kept both of her arms around the smaller woman’s middle, thumbs occasionally stroking. Rachel clutched at her desperately, squealing and jumping and even full on screaming at one point. Quinn was torn between amusement and terror because she had an idea of what her night was shaping up to be like.

“Shit!” Rachel cried and grabbed the snoozing mass that was Cosmo from nearby. He started but didn’t resist when the starlet cuddled him to her chest, watching the cave monsters on screen goggle eyed and mouth open. “Quinn!”

“I know, I know. Do you want me to turn it off?” Quinn pulled her closer, unaffected by the happenings on screen. Though every time Rachel jumped or tensed, she did too - no matter how many times she’d seen the movie she couldn’t help it. 

When Abbey and Camille eventually returned they were finishing up Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Rachel was completely in Quinn’s lap. Her eyes were so wide, Cam was sure they were seconds from falling out of her head.

“No,” Rachel whimpered and pulled the blanket over her eyes as the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw filled the room. The surround sound boomed ominously and Rachel would swear on Barbra that it sounded like the awful power-tool wielding villain was in the room. “Quinn!”

Quinn turned the movie off immediately with the remote, smiling sheepishly over at her scowling sister. Rachel turned in her arms and buried her face in Quinn’s neck with the blanket over her head.

“Do I even want to know?” Cam asked.

“Nope, pretty sure not. Hey Abbey? Want to pick out a cartoon? I think Rachel would really love to watch some Disney.”

Rachel mumbled something against Quinn’s skin, something that sounded vaguely like ‘Disney doesn’t have chainsaws’ and ‘pointless and horrifically vicious acts’. 

Even after a couple of hours of Disney movies, Rachel protested whenever Quinn left her side and tracked the blonde's movements wherever she went. 

That night Cosmo slept with them.


	8. Chapter 8

The first thing Rachel did when Quinn and Camille left the apartment in the morning was hop onto Google to try and find out what, exactly, Cosmo was supposed to be. When she’d fallen asleep she knew for a fact she’d been thoroughly entangled with her safety blanket slash girlfriend. However when she woke up to Quinn’s annoyingly persistent work alarm it was not Quinn’s chest she found her face pressed into. She woke up cuddling Cosmo, with her nose buried into the back of his furry neck. He hadn’t seemed to mind her sleepily given affection and had peered at her calmly, while she startled away from him like he was one of the damned cave monsters from Quinn’s nasty horror film.

“What are you?” She’d cried, nose wrinkling at his offensive doggie odor.

Quinn, of course, thought the whole thing was hilarious.

It had taken quite a bit of internet research for her to find anything that looked similar to the dog. So with glasses perched on her face and a triumphant smirk pulling at her lips Rachel turned to glower down at Cosmo and declared him to be a ‘Schnoodle’.

He seemed generally unimpressed with her proclamation.

The apartment was eerily quiet with Abbey still sleeping and both Quinn and Camille gone. Rachel wasn’t really sure what to do with herself but the longer she sat still the louder the imaginary chainsaw in her mind got. She whimpered at the flashes of gore her imagination conjured for her and unhappily wobbled out into the more brightly lit kitchen. She crammed herself into the nearest corner so she could watch for any sort of danger. It wasn’t until after her medication finally kicked in that she began to relax again.

She picked Cosmo up off the floor and smiled loopily at him, even allowing him to lick her face before the smell of the dog registered on her senses.

“You stink,” she informed him. He wagged his tail. “You know, Cosmo just because you look like a sewer rat doesn’t mean you need to smell like one. You need a bath.”

Cosmo, for his part, knew that word and his tail immediately stopped moving.

Rachel sprang into action, well in her current state it was more like tripped in action, shuffling off in a drugged version of her diva strut to gather the necessary supplies for her mission. For once, Cosmo didn’t follow her, but clawed his way up onto the couch and hid in a ball under a blanket. She returned to the kitchen armed with her vegan shampoo and a couple fluffy towels. Unfortunately for Cosmo his hiding skills were no match for Rachel’s superior seeking skills. The diva set him in the sink and pointed a stern finger to the tip of his nose. “Listen here, friend, this is what’s about to happen. I’m going to give you a bath and since we have no animal safe shampoo I’m using my organic shampoo on you. It smells amazing and will make your fur very soft so I want no complaints from you. Here are the rules for bath time. You will stay in this sink until free of any soapy residue, you will not shake water on me, you will not fight the process, you will not howl, whine, or bark. I hope you can do these things for me so we can continue on our path to friendship. I’d offer to shake on it but I don’t know where your feet have been.”

With the rules of engagement now clearly outlined Rachel bent to her task, first rinsing and then lathering up the black, curly-haired, dog. She was surprised by how tiny he actually was without all the poof from his fur. “I see that we are kindred spirits in a way, Cosmo, you are equally small of stature and naturally thin it would appear. Common ground is an excellent way to form a bond with someone.”

Soaked, soapy, and minty smelling, Cosmo looked up at her forlornly and trembled all over. His body tried to stealthily cower away from the spray of the water but Rachel hauled him back under it immediately.

“Aunt Rachel?” 

“Chainsaw!” Rachel squeaked and jumped forward, slamming her abdomen into the sink. She turned with wide eyes to see only a sleep tussled Abbey blinking at her confusedly. Definitely not the hulking mass of the power-tool wielding madman that had chased her all night in her dreams. She could somewhat remember waking in the middle of the night crying because the torementor in her dreams had been wearing Quinn’s face and she wasn’t sure what was worse - that dream Quinn had perished or the fact that the evil man had savaged her body to make a mask from her angel.

“Chainsaw?”

“I – yes, chainsaw.” The starlet shook her head to clear the awful images from it and then froze as she realized what Abbey had called her. She turned from Cosmo to give the child her complete attention. After all, focusing on more than one thing was difficult at the moment.   
“Did you just call me ‘Aunt’ Rachel?”

Abbey padded further into the kitchen and stood up on her tiptoes to try and see Cosmo better. “Mommy said that you’re Aunt Quinn’s Cinderella and it doesn’t matter that you’re both girls. Even though it’s ‘sposed to be the Prince that finds the slipper and brings it to find Cinderella. I guess you’re both Princesses. Mommy said if the glass slipper fits it fits and sometimes it doesn’t fit on the person we thought it would. Aunt Q was looking for you for a long time and now that she found you and the slipper fits you’re going to live happily ever after.” Abbey’s nose wrinkled as she looked up at the ceiling, as though thinking deep little thoughts about Princesses. “I think if Aunt Q loves you so much you should get married. Mommy said she thinks so too, so that makes you my other Aunt. It’s kind of weird but I like you and you make Aunt Q smile a lot. You love Aunt Q too, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” Rachel answered after finding her voice she discreetly wiped at her blurry eyes and beamed down at her, as of now, adopted niece, and bent to gather her into a warm hug. The girl wrapped her short arms around the diva’s neck, stretching up as tall as she could to accomplish the feat and even placed the sweetest of kisses to Rachel’s hair.

“That’s good, I think it would break Aunt Q’s heart if you didn’t,” Abbey informed her and stepped away from the embrace. “I don’t like it when she’s sad. Mommy said she was sad for long time, but I shouldn’t ask why.”

“Don’t worry, Scooter, I’ll try my best to keep her happy,” Rachel promised. That seemed to assuage Abbey who nodded so seriously it made her look far more mature than she was. The older brunette straightened back up and turned to resume her dog washing only to jerk in surprise when Cosmo wasn’t where she left him. “Oh no.”

“Cosmo!” She yelped and bolted from the kitchen, following a trail of bubbles deeper into the apartment, a giggling Abbey chasing right after her.

After rescuing (or abducting depending on whose point of view) the small Schnoodle from under Quinn’s bed the dynamic trio were once again in the kitchen. Rachel trying to wash the dog whilst shaking off her grogginess and Abbey coloring quietly at the island.

“Aunt Rachel?”

The diva smiled, giddy now over her new title. “Yes, Scooter?”

“Can we watch Aladdin?”

“Absolutely, let me finish Cosmo’s bath first, okay?” Rachel glared at the dog while she spoke. Wisely he avoided any eye contact with her whatsoever, he got his payback when she lifted her hand slowly from his fur, shaking hard and dousing her with water. She shrieked and clamped her hands back down on him but it was too late by then. “You – you little! There are no words for you!”

She toweled her face off first and then vigorously repeated the process on the now smug looking dog. “I swear to God, Todo,” she spoke lowly to avoid alerting Abbey. “You will rue the day you shook dog water all over Rachel Berry. Why you insist on this after our tentative truce and established pseudo friendship yesterday is beyond me. I know you’re just a dog, though I use that term loosely, but I think you’re smarter than you let on. Continue down this path and I will be forced to procure a… ‘cone of shame’.”

Cosmo snorted and shuffled agitatedly in the sink, head low and tail still. Rachel took pity on him and scooped him up in the fluffy towel to hand to Abbey. The little girl hopped off her stool and took the dog into her arms. 

“Come on, Aunt Rachel,” she said and shuffled the dog so she could grab Rachel’s hand and tugged lightly. “Aunt Q said it’s my job to keep you safe today. I’m ‘sposed to make sure you eat, and drink juice, and not let any scary monsters get you.”

Rachel followed after the child, content to be lead around the apartment, and obediently sat on the couch when Abbey pushed gently on her hips.

“Can I put the movie in? I know how!”

At Rachel’s nod, Abbey deposited the bundled Cosmo on the couch and bounced over to Quinn’s impressive DVD collection. The agent had thoughtfully removed all the Disney title’s before she’d left and stacked them on a lower shelf where Abbey could reach them. Through rapidly drooping eyelids Rachel watched Abbey carefully pry free the movie she wanted and insert the disk into the player with a proud smile. She helped the child up into the cradle of her crossed legs when she returned to the couch and sighed drowsily as Abbey pulled her arms around her tiny body. Rachel settled her chin gently on top of the crown of Abbey’s head and forced her eyes back open long enough to start the film.

“You can go to sleep if you want, I don’t mind,” Abbey whispered. She tilted her head back and shared a smile with Rachel, who only cuddled her closer. “I promise I won’t leave you. No monsters are going to get you. I’m not as tough as Aunt Q, but I can kick really hard!” 

“I believe you,” Rachel assured her. Her head felt so heavy, so she gave in and leaned them both over slowly, using her body to guide Abbey’s down with her. The blue eyed girl snuggled back and used Rachel’s arm as a pillow. Rachel reached down and dragged Abbey’s Nemo blanket up over them both. She curled her other arm securely over Abbey and let the dizzy feeling of the drugs wash over her and drag her under into sleep.

She woke to the pleasurable sensation of the softest kisses dotting her face, squirming as she blinked her eyes open and Quinn kissed her ear. 

“That tickles,” she grumbled and rolled slightly to look up at the blonde bending over her. “Hello, Special Agent Fabray.”

“Hi, Superstar Rachel Berry, welcome to planet Earth. Human Beings say ‘hi’,” Quinn teased. She stood back up and gestured in the direction of Rachel’s chest. “I see you’re making sure Abbey gets her growth hormone.”

Rachel craned her neck down and smiled. Abbey was out cold, mouth open and breathing deep, still utilizing Rachel’s arm for a pillow. Part of her ached with a sudden longing, an urge to see hazel eyes instead of blue, or blonde hair instead of dark brown. She hadn’t thought about it in so long, she’d been so focused on her career - but a baby. Her smile turned wistful as she stroked back long tendrils of brown hair from Abbey’s face. Someday, she thought and turned back up to Quinn. “That’s so cute.” 

“Exactly how many movies did you guys watch? I seem to recall leaving a neat stack and now they’re are dvd cases all over my living room.”

Sighing Rachel turned back to observe the floor and saw that there were brightly decorated dvd cases scattered around the couch - and that was definitely Tarzan playing on the tv, not Aladdin.

She’d been asleep longer than she’d thought.

“Hey, Quinn? I was think... “ Cam trailed off as her sister shushed her. The eldest Fabray quickly set down the grocery bags in her arms and crept over to join the other women at the couch. Her smile softened as she saw her baby. “I should be annoyed with you, she’s not going to want to sleep tonight, but god that’s precious. She didn’t bother you did she?”

Rachel shook her head with a dopey smile. “No, she was perfect. I’m pretty sure she took care of me.” The diva’s eyes went wide as she recalled her conversation with the sleeping child earlier.

“Rachel?” Quinn asked, frowning worriedly at the startled expression that had taken over Rachel’s features. 

It was hard to pull away from the comfort and hazy day-dream of a Berry-Fabray baby but Rachel made herself. She had something to say and she knew if she stayed too long she’d forget and it was important. Abbey barely shifted when Rachel carefully lifted her and pulled her tingling arm out from under her. Gently, carefully, she lowered the peaceful girl back to the couch cushions and slowly slipped off the sofa. 

Cam squealed in surprise when Rachel launched herself at the older blonde in her standard tackle-hug. 

“Cam, thank you. I - just, thank you!” Rachel gushed into blonde hair and hugged Camille tightly. “Abbey told me what you said.”

Quinn watched the exchange with her head cocked to the side and felt her eyebrow, the eyebrow, start to creep up her forehead into the Fabray arch. “What did Abbey say?”

“Aunt Rachel?” A sleepy voice called groggily from the couch. 

All three women immediately looked back down at the sofa. Abbey sat up, rubbing at her eyes and suddenly bounced out from under her blanket to swarm first Quinn and then her mother with hugs.

“Mommy!” The blue eyed child cried delightedly, practically climbing Camille’s legs in her excitement.

“Did you miss me, Scooter?” Cam asked and picked her daughter up, she made a playful growling noise and dipped the little girl until she hung upside down and giggled. “I missed you! Aunt Quinn and I went shopping and I may have brought your favorite ice cream.”  
“I get ice cream?” Abbey gasped and squirmed. “Can I have it now?”

“How about after pizza?” Quinn suggested, grinning widely at the renewed cheering it caused.

“Pizza and ice cream!” Abbey began to chant as Cam set her back down. She marched around them in circles, hands up in the air in her ‘Abbey is pleased’ victory march.

“Go wash your hands, little nut,” Cam told her, tickling tiny ribs and chasing away the laughing child. “With soap, please!”

While her sister dealt with the munchkin, Quinn turned her attention to the swaying brunette beside her. She shuffled over and gathered the starlet in close, sneakily checking Rachel’s temperature with a kiss to her forehead. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m sleepy,” Rachel confessed and wiggled into Quinn’s embrace with a sigh. “I missed you too. Forgive my less exuberant greeting.”

“Hey, she got her vocab skills back,” Cam teased over her shoulder, returning to the abandoned grocery bags. 

Rachel stuck her tongue out at the retreating woman. “I still feel um, floaty? I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.”

“Poor baby,” Quinn cooed and pressed her back down into the couch cushions. “I brought you some feel better stuff. All organic and vegan, of course, but I figured if Abbey was getting ice cream my Superstar should get some too.”

“You’re too good to me,” Rachel said and leaned back down to stretch out once more. Quinn eased the blanket out from under her and draped it back over her body before stooping to kiss her temple again.

“Don’t say that so soon, I told Ryan he could come see you later.”

“I take it back,” Rachel joked and rolled her eyes.

“I thought you might.”

“Hey, Quinn, want to come show me where all this stuff goes?”

“I’ll be back, keep my spot warm for me,” Quinn whispered softly and couldn’t resist kissing the tip of Rachel’s nose. She loved watching Rachel’s face scrunch up when she did that. 

“Sorry to pry you away, I probably could figure this out,” Cam said sheepishly when her sister joined her in the kitchen, eyeing the various food stuffs scattered over the counters.

“Oh no, it all has a place and a certain someone is very particular about things being in their correct places,” Quinn replied. “You care to explain to me what the ‘thank you’ was about?”

Camille toyed with a box of cereal, pretending to read the back of the box. “I had a conversation with your niece yesterday, and I guess she decided to talk to your girlfriend about it.”

“Uh-huh,” the younger blonde pulled open the fridge and began to re-arrange the shelves to make room. “Elaborate, please.”

“I told her - she had all these questions, you know, she’s kind of like a question machine right now and she has this fixation on Cinderella because of Sean and... It hasn’t been easy, or maybe it’s been too easy, for me to adjust to you and Rachel.” Cam set the cereal down and leaned back on the counter. Quinn visibly stiffened and straightened up from her perusal of her fridge.

“You have my attention,” she said softly, gaze flicking to the living room before leery, intense, hazel eyes fell back on her sister.

“She wanted to know about Rachel and why you two kiss and asked if it was wrong because she’s never seen it before and we’ve never discussed things like that with her.”

“Things like homosexuals?” Quinn asked pointedly and crossed her arms snugly over her chest. 

Cam swallowed and nodded. “It hasn’t come up yet and Sean and I never talked about what we, how we would handle that with her. You and I were raised to believe it’s wrong and a sin. Jesus, Quinn, Dad told us gay people were mentally handicapped and should be institutionalized! Sean is far more open minded than I have ever been but, again, we didn’t talk about how to address it with our child. So I told her what I thought I should in a way she would understand. In a way I hoped she could understand because I don’t want my daughter to grow up like we did.”

“Cam?” Quinn shook her head, closed the fridge with her hip, and reached to take her sister’s hand in hers. 

“I told her that you love Rachel the same way that I love her daddy. That it doesn’t matter that you’re both girls because when you love someone you love them. I told her that Rachel is your Cinderella, just like I was Sean’s. I said that you carried your love like a glass slipper and you’d been looking for the person it fit for a long time and when you found Rachel the slipper fit, and that’s all that really matters.” Cam flushed a deep red, all the way to the tip of her ears, and stared hard at her shuffling feet. “I told her you’d live happily ever after.”

“That’s...” Quinn choked, shook her head again, and tugged on her sisters hand, easily pulling her into a tight hug. “Camille, thank you.”

“I love you, Quinn. You’re my little sister and my head has been a mess since I left Sean and this thing with Rachel, I never thought - but I love you and I see that you love her and how much she loves you and how could I tell my child anything other than the truth? These last few days I’ve seen how wrong Dad was, how wrong I was. You’ve opened my eyes, if anything I should thank you. You didn’t know what you were potentially bringing into your home, your life, by letting me in. I’m so glad you did, I’m so glad I got to see this side of you and meet Rachel. You’ve taught me so much.”

“This is more than I’d hoped for.” Quinn confessed, squeezing Cam in gratitude.

Cam shifted out of her sisters hold and beamed a watery smile at her. “Just promise me one thing?”

“After that? The moon.” Quinn said and wiped at her eyes with a soft chuckle.

“I better be invited to the wedding,” Cam said and laughed at her sisters shocked expression.

“Are you kidding? You’re my maid of honor!”

“Hey,” Rachel said, breaking the sisters further apart. She stepped into the kitchen and moved into Quinn’s space with a frown. “Cam! I can’t leave you two alone for five minutes before you’re both crying. Why are you crying?” She tenderly smoothed the pads of her fingers under Quinn’s eyes, trying to clear the moisture away.

Quinn laughed and wrapped her arms around the pouting brunette. “Happy tears, Rach. I swear, these are happy tears.”

“Rachel,” Cam spoke softly, still trying to get her thoughts into something that made sense. She gripped the brunettes shoulder and ducked slightly to peer directly into glassy brown eyes. “I wanted to say, and I guess Abbey beat me to it in her way, welcome to the family.”

Rachel blinked rapidly and gaped from one blonde to the next. “This has been the strangest day of my life.” She said slowly but left Quinn’s side to hug the older Fabray. “Thank you for what you just did. You have no idea what it means to her,” she whispered conspiratorially.

“How come everyone’s crying?” A small voice inquired. The adults started to laugh as Abbey padded into the middle of them and lifted an eyebrow. “You guys are weird.”

Quinn scooped her up off the floor and spun them both in a quick circle. “We’re just a weird family, Scooter, you’ll get used to it.”

A knock at the door echoed through the apartment, startling Cosmo who had been sitting just outside the kitchen warily (he hadn’t forgotten the bathing incident). He sounded the alarm and ran to the door, continuing to bark loudly, despite Cam’s yelling at him to hush.

“That’s probably the pizza,” Quinn announced, beaming at Abbey who clapped her hands and kicked her feet so her aunt would put her down. She skipped off towards the living room, towing Rachel with her asking if they could watch another ‘singing’ movie with their dinner.

“Plates are where?” Cam asked after clearing her eyes one last time.

“Cabinet to the right of the stove,” Quinn said over her shoulder as she pulled open the door. “Hey, that was really fast usually you guys take at least an hour.”

Quinn’s smile fell as she was greeted with someone most definitely not the pizza man.

“Uh, hi Quinn,” Sean said awkwardly. In the background Quinn heard the sound of plates breaking.

“Sean?”

The tall dark haired man ducked his head and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Can I come in?”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Quinn said. She stared at him, her brother-in-law, who normally looked so immaculate. His hair was rumpled, his clothes casual and worn, he looked exhausted and beaten with the telling dark circles under his eyes. 

“I really need to see her,” he said softly.

She was about to object again, and perhaps lay into him after what he’d done to her sister but a hand on her arm stopped her.

“Sean,” Cam whispered, like he would vanish if she spoke any louder. 

“Camille, can we talk, please?”

“Yeah, of course,” she started to step out of the apartment to join him in the hallway but Quinn cleared her throat and shook her head at both of them.

“Go down to the guest room, no need to have a serious spousal discussion in the hall. Rachel and I will keep Abbey occupied.”

Seans eyes lit up at the mention of his daughter but the stern look being levelled at him from his sister-in-law reminded him of the situation he was in. He had driven his wife and child from their home. Though, he really hoped that he might be able to fix that. 

“Thanks Quinn,” he said, and genuinely meant it. “For everything.”

“Don’t thank me,” she said and jerked her head to indicate the way she wanted them to go.

Sneaking into the apartment proved easier than they’d thought. Abbey was completely enthralled with The Wizard of Oz, she wasn’t even asking Rachel questions. Quinn smiled down at the two brunettes as she circled around the couch to re-take her seat next to her niece. Rachel peered over the child’s head and mouthed ‘who?’ over at her girlfriend. Quinn replied with a silent ‘Sean’ and watched understanding fill the diva’s expression.

Back in the guest-room Cam and Sean stood on opposite sides of the space, arms crossed over their chests and neither looking at the other.

Cam cleared her throat of the tears trying to clog it and found the courage to speak first. “What is it, Sean?” Her voice only cracked slightly, and for that she was proud, she knew she couldn’t look him in the eye because she would cry so she focused on her bare toes instead, wiggling them into the carpet.

“I want you to come home, Camille.”

“You don’t want a divorce anymore?” she sucked her lower lip into her mouth, bit down on it, and risked a glance his way. He acted like she’d slapped him, swaying back with the imagined force of the blow.

“I - no, I don’t want a divorce at all, I never did. Do you want a divorce?” This time his voice broke and she couldn’t help the tears anymore. Not after that. “Cam, I want you and Abbey to come back home. I miss you so much. Look, I know I hurt you but can’t you understand why I said what I did? I don’t want to lose you and in trying to make you see that I lost you anyway.”

“I want this baby, Sean, and I want you to want it too.” Crying freely now she locked her gaze on his and crossed the room to confront him face to face. “I know there are risks and I know we’ve been through so much already but we can’t, I can’t, let those worries keep me from bringing this person into the world. I want to meet them, I have to believe it will be okay. I need my husband to believe with me. I need you so much, and you abandoned me because you’re afraid.”

“Of course I am! Sweetheart, you and Abbey are my whole world. I had to watch from what felt like a million miles away when - when we lost the other two. I never wanted you to go through that, I don’t want you to have to go through it again. Of course I’m afraid.”

“Then we’re back to square one, because I’m not giving up on our child. This one’s different, I know it, I think God has blessed us with a miracle.” Cam squared her jaw and stared him down. “I won’t keep arguing with you about this. Sean, you either support me or you leave. I believe that was something you promised me when we got married. That you would always support me, no matter what life threw at us.”

“I’m terrified of losing another baby, of losing you and being helpless. I’ve always been your man, been the guy that kept you safe and tried to give you the world. It hurts to see you hurting, it’s almost worse to be the cause. Look, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking, and I want to be that man for you again, I want to be brave for you, strong when you can’t be. I want my little girl and my wife back - more than anything in the world Cam, I want to meet this new person. I just had to try and keep you safe and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, honey. I want to keep the baby, I just don’t want to lose you. So I - I’m saying yes. Yes, I’m going to be the husband I should’ve been, I’m here for you no matter what. I love you, and I desperately want you to come home with me. I need my family too.”

Cam saw the sincerity in his pained blue eyes and that was all she’d ever wanted to hear from him. She threw herself at him and sobbed into his chest, relieved and exhausted and sick with the storm of emotions rolling through her. “I love you too, you irritating, stubborn, charming, man.”

“I missed you, Cinderella.” He wiped the tears off of her face and dipped to kiss her. Cam held tight to his hands, closed her eyes and tried to re-memorize the feeling. He pulled away first, but only far enough to tuck her back securely against his chest. She held on to him for dear life, fingers clutching at his broad shoulders and laughed when he started to rock them from side to side. It was a familiar gesture, completely them, completely Sean.

“Could we maybe go back out there? I really want to see Scooter.”

“Yeah,” she nodded and stretched up for another kiss. Just one more to really solidify that he was real. It felt real, but it scared her, the idea that it could be a dream and she’d wake up alone again. But his stubble scratched at her face, the same way it always did and she could smell his cologne and feel the warmth radiating off of his solid frame. It finally felt like she was home again. “Come on.”

They stepped out of the guest room, hand in hand, and Abbey’s head popped up over the back of the couch.

“Daddy!” the little girl shrieked and before anyone could stop her threw herself over the sofa and ran over to them. Sean dropped to a knee and nearly toppled backwards when his daughter collided with him. He smiled up at Cam before he dipped his head and pressed his nose into Abbey’s soft hair.

“Did you miss me?” he asked.

“Yeah! I’ve been having fun with Aunt Q and Aunt Rachel but it’s better now that you’re here!” Abbey tugged at his shirt and pouted at him. “Pick me up, Daddy.”

He did as ordered, lifting her easily into his arms and shifting her to one hip so he could hold his wife’s hand as well. Cam leaned into his side and beamed as their child immediately started to ramble about the museum and Aunt Rachel’s singing movies. Sean listened with rapt attention as she explained to him why The Sound of Music was magic (because Aunt Rachel said so).

Over on the couch, Quinn and Rachel were covertly spying on the family re-gathering going on behind them. The agent sighed happily and moved closer to Rachel, wrapping her arm around the diva’s slender shoulders. 

“You think they’re okay?” Rachel asked.

“I think they’re going to be fine,” Quinn replied and kissed her girlfriends temple. “But I think we’re going to need more pizza. Sean eats like a bear preparing for hibernation. I have no idea how he stays in shape.”

“I work out, Q.” Sean tussled Quinn’s hair as he and the rest of the Rhoades clan entered the living room. He sat down in the nearby recliner with a groan and winked at them. “You must be Aunt Rachel.”

“Yes, I’m pleased to meet you.” Rachel said, taken aback by his easy smile and the teasing glint in his blue eyes. 

“You sure can pick ‘em, Q,” he reached a fist across the gap between the couch and recliner and only grinned wider when Quinn bumped her fist to his. “I approve.”

“You don’t even know her,” Quinn said with a smirk. Rachel scoffed under the blondes arm and pinched her side.

“At least she’s somewhat coherent now,” Cam snickered from her sisters side.

“Abbey, save me! They’re ganging up on me!” Rachel wailed but smiled wide as the child crawled up into her lap and hugged her.

“Don’t be mean to Aunt Rachel, she’s the best,” Abbey ordered.

Quinn laughed and pulled them even closer, until there wasn’t a sliver of space between her side and the divas. “I agree, she’s the best.”

Rachel took advantage of Quinn’s nearness and nuzzled her way under the blondes chin before remarking. “We have got to learn to check the damn peephole before we open the door.”


End file.
